The Sweetness of Love and Revenge
by Livangel16
Summary: Tatiana Lupe is on the run from a Mexican cartel's assassination squad after her entire family is murdered in Laredo,Texas. She moves to New York City and meets the Turtles after an encounter with The Purple Dragons. But Tatiana wants to avenge her family, and when her past catches up with her, she may get her chance. But will she sacrifice her love for two brothers for revenge?
1. Chapter 1

TMNT-The Sweetness of Love and Revenge

Summary: Tatiana Lupe is on the run from a Mexican drug cartel's assassination squad after her entire family is murdered in Laredo, Texas. She comes to New York City and meets the Turtles after being found half-dead in a street fight with the Purple Dragons. Tatiana has sworn to get revenge for the slaughter of her family, but when she falls in love with an unlikely character, she realizes that a blossoming friendship, a series of near-death experiences, and her desire for revenge could possibly destroy the life she's tried to rebuild. Leo/OC/Raph

**Hey everybody! So, here's the newest TMNT fanfic from me called The Sweetness of Love and Revenge! For those of you who read my other TMNT fanfics and are wondering why I just wrote a third one, blame the plot bunny! I just couldn't let this story die in my mind! So, for those of you who are new to Fanfiction or my work, reviews are what keep me going and inspire the Muses to in turn inspire me. So, review, review, review! Other than that, let's get on with the story, shall we? Enjoy! :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT! I wish I did, but they belong to Eastman and Laird! This plot and all O/Cs DO belong to me!**

Chapter One-Meeting the Turtles

Tatiana Lupe was shoving her books into her locker as all around her, students chattered and buzzed about like busy bees. It was the end of the day, Friday, to be exact, and kids were talking about their plans for the weekend. Just then, there was a sudden, hushed silence and Tatiana looked up to see kids parting like a sea as four girls strode through the hallway. The young woman recognized them instantly. The Fantastic Four.

No. Not the superheroes.

_This _Fantastic Four was Brooklyn Heights High School's most infamous and notorious clique. Their leader was Isabella "Izzy" Newman, a sophomore like Tatiana, captain of the cheerleading squad and the most popular girl in school. Her bleach-blond hair hung in curls, her green eyes were always bright with either happiness or malice and she had a dancer's body underneath layers of designer wear (she favored DKNY and Ella Moss). She lived on Park Avenue with her wealthy investor father and older brother, Cory, who was the star quarterback for NYU and a political science major who everyone knew was going to end up going pre-law.

Next was Isabella's best friend since birth, Alexandria "Anya" Tretakov, a Russian girl whose surgically-enhanced body (thanks to her plastic surgeon mother no doubt) made even the most honorable of boys turn and stare at her with lust in their eyes. She was raven-haired with sharp, piercing blue eyes and had the face of a billboard model: flawless and perfect. She had a large chest which she always accentuated with low-cut belly shirts, and she was never seen without a Prada purse dangling from her thin arm.

Following close behind was Stacey "Delicious" Gorman, the heiress of the Gorman Inc. fortune. She was a fiery redhead who wouldn't think twice about tearing anyone to shreds with her razor-sharp tongue. Her brown eyes were said to burn as red as the fires of Hell when she was angry. According to rumors, the last girl who'd crossed Delicious had wound up in the ER at Mercy General for six hours with deep scratches to her face and arms and had needed plastic surgery. She was a little curvier than the other three girls and was secretly a diet-junkie.

Last but not least was Rachel Roswell, a petite brunette with hazel eyes and a sweet smile that made adults think of her as "sweet" and "innocent", but she was far from that. Everyone in school called her "Satan in heels"…behind her back of course. She was the schemer of the four and often hatched their diabolic revenge plots against rival cliques and those who'd crossed them. Her parents lived in Westchester County on her grandfather's estate. She was from "old money" and had developed a tendency to speak with a British accent (her grandfather was from Rhode Island and both her parents were from Maine) as well as wear clothes in red, white and blue, the colors of the Union Jack.

The sixteen year old sophomore kept her eyes on the Jansport knapsack in front of her as the four queens of the school passed by her locker. Suddenly, she felt something jostle her forward and she braced her hands against the locker to keep from slamming into it. Whirling around, she turned and saw Isabella and her three best friends standing behind her.

"Well, well, well ladies. If it isn't the illegal immigrant," Isabella chuckled. The others all giggled while Tatiana simply rolled her eyes.

"You're clogging up our hallway, alien!" Alexandria informed her, putting her hands on her hips and leaning forward, displaying her sizeable chest to the whole school. As if they didn't see enough of it on a daily basis.

"The hallway's big enough for you to pass through, Anya," Tatiana told her, trying to fight back the angry tone her voice was taking.

"_Don't _call me Anya, you little Mexican alien!" Alexandria snarled, getting up into Tatiana's face. "Have some respect for your betters!"

"Didn't they teach you _anything_ back in Mexico or Columbia or wherever the Hell you came from?" Isabella inquired mockingly. "Or is all they taught you how to do is avoid border patrols and hop fences?" The three girls cackled and high-fived as Isabella stood there in her Ella Moss off-the-shoulder top and DKNY dark-wash jeans, smiling proudly.

"If we say the hallway isn't big enough, then it's not big enough," Stacey whispered in an icy tone.

"Yeah! So why don't you just jump back over the border where you came from!" Rachel sneered. It was then that something within Tatiana snapped. Her mother always told her that she'd inherited her father's short, fiery temper and that it was bound to get her into trouble one day. But just thinking of her mother only fuelled Tatiana's anger even further.

"I was born here and I'm just as much of an American as you four," Tatiana replied firmly. "Except I didn't adopt the bitchy attitude you all did." A silent part of her brain was screaming for her to take back the words she'd spoken, but she silenced it. She wasn't going to let four, spoiled, rich girls insult her family, her birthplace and her identity. Her parents hadn't died to see her turn into a sniveling coward. She was a fighter, like her father had always told her.

"Oh Hell no! You did NOT just call us bitches!" Stacey snarled, launching herself at Tatiana, whose fist automatically flew up in defense and caught Stacey smack in the nose. There were audible gasps as Stacey stumbled back, her hands covering her nose. She gingerly removed them and revealed it to be red, swollen and bleeding. The entire hallway screeched to a halt. No one dared to move a muscle.

"You'll pay for that, you little slut!" Rachel snapped angrily, but Isabella held her back, her green eyes hard as rock as they stared at Tatiana.

"Leave her! For now," she ordered. "We'll deal with her later. Let's go." Isabella and Rachel supported Stacey between them, who was trying her hardest not to cry, but was muttering about booking her plastic surgeon at such a late time. Alexandria brought up the rear, shoving Tatiana roughly aside and muttering "Bitch" under her breath as she sashayed down the hallway, mesmerizing the guys who'd gathered on either side of the hallway with her swaying hips. Tatiana watched as they turned the corner and then returned to her locker, feeling the whispers and stares of the other teens as she packed up her books, zipped up her backpack and headed out for her apartment.

* * *

As she walked through the bustling streets of New York, her mind was far from the revenge that Isabella and her little clique would come up with to reek on her. Right now, she was thinking of her family. Her mother, father, older brother, Jorge, and her younger sister, Penelope. It'd been almost a year since she'd moved to New York City, and it was a big change from the small-town settings of Laredo, Texas. She shuddered as she thought of the small town where her life had been tragically and unexpectedly shattered. She'd barely escaped with her life, but that didn't make the pain she felt in her chest every time she heard the word "Laredo" or "Texas" hurt any less. She missed her family a lot, though she'd never admit it openly. Her mother had always said that she was the "strong woman" of the family, and now more than ever, Tatiana had to be that strong woman. She couldn't dissolve into tears at every little thing just because her parents were gone. She was no weakling.

She'd managed to rent an apartment and paid her bills using some of her student grant from the government and her part-time job as a bartender at Sugar Daddy's, a strip club on the East Side. Tatiana had to admit that her manager was a creep: a sixty-five, balding, overweight, Caucasian creep with an appetite for nacho cheese and an even larger one for girls almost three times younger than him. His name was Gregory Henson, also known as "G-6", and a lot of the dancers at Sugar Daddy's had to "pay their dues" to him almost every month. Not only that, but he also paid "protection money" to the Purple Dragons, a notorious street gang that was rumored to be one of the toughest gangs in the city. But Tatiana knew that these guys had nothing on the Mexican drug cartels that pretty much ran Laredo and other border towns. One wrong move, and most of these so-called Purple "Dragons" would become Purple "Chickens". Mexican cartels and assassination squads meant business.

Tatiana shuddered at the thought of her boss, especially since the incident that'd happened on her last shift. She was hoping to forget it by the time she had to start working again, but she couldn't help but remember...

_Flashback: Two weeks ago..._

_It was another busy night at Sugar Daddy's, and Tatiana was nearly fainting with exhaustion. It seemed that these men were as greedy for booze and liquor as they were for getting lap dances from the strippers or going into the backrooms with them. Tatiana may have only been seventeen years old, but she wasn't an idiot or immune to the facts of life, which was both a blessing and a curse. _

_"Hey, Tat! Mr. Henson wants a word with you in his office!" Jacob Chekov, one of the bouncers, informed her. He was muscular and cute with his dark, curly hair and chocolate-brown eyes. Originally from the Ukraine, he was only nineteen, but he looked at least twenty-three with the little amount of facial hair he'd allowed to grow. Tatiana fostered a huge crush on him along with many of the dancers at Sugar Daddy's. But as he'd confided in her a few nights ago while drunk, he didn't want any of the dancers because he knew that most of them weren't who they seemed to be, that he wanted a girl who was smart, ambitious and had a sense of dignity about her._

_"Besides," he'd told her. "I want a girl whose ass hasn't been seen by twenty perverts in the same room as me."_

_Walking with Jacob towards Mr. Henson's office was a lot scarier than if she'd been going alone. When one of the bouncers was escorting her, it meant that something was terribly wrong. Finally, they stopped at a wooden door and Jacob opened the door, revealing Mr. Henson at his desk with one of the new girls, a buxom blonde, in his lap. The girl whipped her head around and her jaw dropped. Covering her exposed chest, she quickly scurried out of the room. Tatiana watched as Jacob's eyes followed her barely-clad ass out the door and down the hall. So much for thinking he'd ever like __**her**__!_

_"You wanted to see me, Mr. Henson?" Tatiana inquired, desperately trying to keep her mind off of Jacob and the blond girl. The aging patron coughed and then stood up, buttoning his trousers but not zipping them. His watery-blue eyes were fixed on Tatiana's chest, and she quickly folded her arms across it, blocking his view of her cleavage._

_"Yeah," he said in that raspy voice that reminded Tatiana a lot of Rasputin in the movie __**Anastasia. **__"I'm thinking of promoting you to become a dancer." _

_Tatiana's jaw dropped and behind her, she heard Jacob snicker. She rounded on him, but the smirk was still on his face. He probably thought she'd jump at the opportunity to earn more money. But she was no whore. And she wasn't desperate either._

_"No respect, Sir, but I'm no __**puta**_!" _Tatiana replied firmly._

_"You immigrants and your language!" growled Mr. Henson. "Thought a girl like you would've jumped at the opportunity to earn some fast, easy money! Most girls would!"_

_"I'm not like most girls," Tatiana shot back._

_"You can say that again!" Jacob chuckled. Tatiana stared at him hard until he gave her a sly wink, meaning that he'd meant that in the best way possible. She felt her heart begin beating faster inside her ribcage._

_"Keep yer damn mouth shut, Chekov, unless I ask ya ta talk!" snapped Mr. Henson angrily. Jacob simply snorted and rolled his eyes. Henson glared at him, but it didn't seem to shake him even slightly. Then, he turned back to Tatiana. "Fine. If ya don't wanna dance, I ain't forcing ya to. But you'll be begging me for the chance one of these days."_

_"I doubt that, Sir," Tatiana told him bluntly. Mr. Henson's jaw dropped and his pudgy face turned beet-red with rage. _

_"Come here!" he growled at her. Tatiana shrank back slightly._

_"What?" she inquired._

_"Come here, ya little Mexican tramp!" he snarled. Tatiana quickly looked at Jacob, who turned his face away to avert her gaze. Gulping, she walked over to her boss's desk. Then, he seized her wrist and tossed her hard onto the desk, back first._

_"You think you can come in here with an attitude like you run things, you little slut?!" he roared, climbing on top of her.__Tatiana began fighting, trying to land punches and kicks. Mr. Henson drew back his hand and slapped her hard across the face as he tore at the buttons of her shirt._

_"Get off me! Get off me!" Tatiana screamed, landing a punch to his eye. He slapped her harder, causing a primal scream to rip from her throat. _

_"Jacob! Jacob, help me! Please! Help me!" she yelled to the bouncer._

_"Move from that spot, Chekov, and what I do to you will make you wish I'd fired you!" Mr. Henson threatened, yanking down Tatiana's skirt. Jacob kept gazing in the other direction, as if trying to block out the struggle that was clearly playing out before him._

_She heard Mr. Henson unzip his pants and began to lose hope. But she swore that she wouldn't cry. Not in front of this fat, perverted rapist or Jacob. Just then, there was a soft CLICK! and Henson froze. Tatiana looked and saw Jacob holding a pistol to Henson's temple._

_"Get off her!" Jacob growled, his index finger poised on the trigger._

_"Put that damn gun away, you excuse of a Russian!" Mr. Henson ordered sharply. But Jacob didn't lower the gun. Instead, he drew it back and smacked it hard across Mr. Henson's cheek. The man howled in pain and then froze once again as the cold muzzle found its original resting place against his temple._

_"First of all, I'm Ukrainian, you fat son of a bitch!" Jacob snapped. "Second is that I gave you an order! Get! Off! Her! NOW!"_

_"You don't know what you've just done, kid," Mr. Henson snarled as he rolled off of Tatiana. Pulling her skirt back up and fixing her shirt, Tatiana quickly hurried off the desk and stood beside Jacob. The young man was still pointing the gun at their boss. Just then, he pulled the trigger and a loud BANG! sounded. Tatiana screamed and squeezed her eyes shut. She couldn't stand guns. Not after what had happened to her family. Cautiously, she opened one eye and saw Mr. Henson standing beside a hole in his wall, staring at Jacob with a look of rage and...fear. Tatiana looked up and saw the cold, hard look in Jacob's eyes. The gun was smoking, and there was no fear, no remorse. Nothing but coldness. _

_"Next time you try this shit with her again, I won't miss!" Jacob growled fiercely, stowing the gun away and seizing Tatiana's arm. Then, he had pulled her out of the office and all the way down the street to her apartment, not even stopping to hear the insults being hurled at him by Mr. Henson._

_End Flashback _

Tatiana visibly shuddered at the memory again. Climbing up the rugged, cracked, cement steps of her building, she blocked out the sounds of the potheads nearby who called out to her and headed up the three flights of stairs to her apartment.

It was small, sparse and a bit cramped, but Tatiana counted her blessings. She could've been a lot worse off. At least it was a roof over her head with a bed, bathroom, kitchen and working water. She had a small TV along with a DVD player that she'd gotten as a Christmas gift from Jacob last year. Tossing her backpack into the flimsy armchair that she'd bought at a discount store, she quickly changed into a pair of sweatpants and a tank top with sneakers. Then, she went to her fridge and saw that it was nearly empty. Groaning, she closed it again and went to the secret shoebox stashed with cash. It was all that was left from the sale of their house back in Laredo. After the police had finished processing it as a crime scene, Tatiana had sold it through a mutual friend so as not to attract any attention.

_Just enough to get some food,_ Tatiana thought to herself. Grabbing her purse from her schoolbag, Tatiana headed back out onto the street towards the local corner market.

* * *

"Wahoo!" Mikey cheered as he and his brothers soared across the rooftops of the city. Their nightly patrol had begun, and the wild turtle of the four was enjoying every second of it.

"Mikey! Part of being on patrol is being **silent**!" Leo hissed as they landed on a rooftop across from the local deli.

"Ah, cut him some slack, Leo!" Don told his eldest brother. "It's our first time out on the rooftops since..." A murderous glance from Leo prevented the techno genius from saying anything else.

"Enough o' Mikey and his weirdness!" Raph snapped, twirling his sais and standing at the edge of the rooftop. "I wanna find something ta bash!"

"You **always** wanna find something to bash, Raphie Boy!" Mikey reminded him.

"Why you little...!" Raph snarled, lunging at Mikey, who screamed his signature girly scream and ducked behind Don. Everyone knew that Raph hated being called "Raphie Boy".

"Either that or **someone**," Mikey finished as Raph came around and chased Mikey out from behind Donatello.

"Knock it off, you two!" Leo scolded." Just then, movement from the front door of the deli caught his eye. "Guys! Shadows! Now!"

The four ninjas disappeared into the shadows just as a young girl about sixteen years old came out holding several bags in her hands stocked with groceries. She was raven-haired with green eyes the same shade as jade. She was slender, but she was also quite curvaceous as well. It was easy to tell that she was a Latina by the shape of her nose and her face. She was quite attractive, and none of the brothers, not even Leo, could deny that.

"Whoa! Who's the hottie?!" Mikey questioned, earning a smack from Don. "Ouch! What?!"

"Keep your eyes in your head, Shell for Brains!" Don hissed as they watched the girl continue down the street. Just then, Raph spotted two figures wearing dark hoods out of the corner of his eye. They were following the young woman too close for his comfort. This became confirmed when Raph saw one of them take out a knife from his side pocket.

"Looks like she's being followed," Raph observed. "And from the looks of those two goons, dey ain't gonna offer ta help her with her groceries."

"Awesome! We get to rescue a damsel-in-distress!" Mikey crowed, earning a smack in the head this time from Leo.

"We won't get to save her if all of the East Side hears you!" Leo scolded.

"And technically, she's not a damsel-in-distress yet," Don reminded him. "She would have to be currently in a life-threatening situation to be considered a "damsel-in-distress". And even then, the use of the word, "damsel" itself is quite contradictory to its literary meaning."

"Thanks for the unnecessary info, brainiac," Mikey shot back.

"Enough! Let's go!" Leo commanded, hurrying across the rooftop before leaping onto the next one, silently and stealthily following the young girl. His brothers, after exchanging a group look at one another, nodded and become their brother's shadows within the shadows.

* * *

Tatiana could feel the presence of someone behind her. Whipping around, she saw two guys duck into an alley she'd just passed by. There was no doubt in her mind anymore.

They were following her.

Panic, fear and rage filled her body as she sped up her slow, leisurely walk to a brisker pace. If she hadn't been loaded down with groceries, she would've turned around and given those two creeps a piece of her mind (and her fists). Just then, as she was passing by the entrance of another alley, a hand shot out and snatched her arm, yanking her inside the shadowy depths. Stumbling a bit, Tatiana heard snickers and chuckles coming from all sides as a group of around ten thugs, all armed with pipes, knives and crowbars surrounded her. She backed up until she felt the grim, dirty wall of the alley pressing into her back. She was trapped.

"Who are you?! And what do you want?!" Tatiana demanded, narrowing her eyes at them.

"She's a feisty one, ain't she fellas!" one of them with a blond Mohawk chuckled, earning snickers and laughter from his comrades. "We're da Purple Dragons, sweetheart. And since ya look new around here, we'll let ya off easy. **After** ya pay us."

"If you dopes haven't noticed, I just spent whatever money I had on groceries!" Tatiana snapped, gripping the bags tighter in her hands. "And even if I **hadn't**, I **still** wouldn't give it to the likes of you!"

"Better watch dat tongue of yours, sweetheart!" the blond warned her, snapping a knife open right in her face. "Pretty girls who talk like dat tend to get ugly _real_ fast!"

"Yeah?! And ugly guys like you are the spineless cowards that do it?!" Tatiana threw back. The blond thug pushed her back against the wall, holding the knife tantalizingly close to her throat. Tatiana fought down her fear and instead glared back at the thug holding the knife, silently daring him to slit her throat. Little did she know, other eyes were watching. Eight pairs of eyes hidden beneath red, blue, orange and purple bandanas on the rooftop overlooking the alley.

"Damn! That chick's got guts!" Mikey whispered.

"Yeah! Not many girls I know would do something like dat against da Purple Dragons!" Raph seconded, his eyes fixed on the defiant, young woman. There was something about her that kept Raph's eyes glued to her. Was it only her defiant glare? Or maybe it was her air of toughness and sense of pride? Maybe it was even that he wanted to pound the dirt bag for now staring at her cleavage, his lips curling up into a wicked grin.

"Never mind da cash, sweet thing!" he purred. "I think I found another way you can pay us!" His hand reached out towards her chest, but Tatiana stomped hard on his foot, grabbed his wrist and kneed him hard in the stomach. He doubled over, dropping the knife to the ground.

"Get her!" the leader yelled. Tatiana ducked a blow from a tug with a crowbar and landed a punch to a guy's nose that had blood spurting from it like a fountain. Just then, she felt something hard slam into her skull, knocking her off-balance. Another hard blow brought her crashing to the ground, her head swimming as she felt something smash into her side. She was on her stomach, blood dripping from a large gash in the side of her head. The blond with the Mohawk came into view, blurry, but she knew it was him. He balled up his fist, and she felt his fist slam into her cheek, sending her rolling onto her back.

"Hold the bitch down," the blond ordered. Tatiana kicked out at the first thug who tried to pin her legs to the ground, sending him to the ground. But more came and grabbed onto her arms and legs, holding them down in the filth of the alley as the blond leader unzipped his pants. Just then, the sound of a trash can clattering against the ground made everyone freeze in their tracks.

"Who's there?" the blond leader shouted. Just then, Tatiana saw one of the thugs disappear into the darkness of the shadows in a flash. Then another. And another. _What the Hell's going on?_ she wondered as the blond began noticing his men were thinning out.

"Show yourself, coward!" the blond man demanded.

"If you insist!" a voice replied. Tatiana knew right off the bat that whoever her mysterious savior was, he or she hailed from Brooklyn. The accent was one she'd heard at school many times. But even though the accent was familiar, the people who stepped out of the shadows were _definitely not_ familiar.

For starters, they weren't even people. They were four, giant **turtles**.

Each one wore a different colored bandana , and all of them were armed with weapons that Tatiana had never seen before in her life. She was still trying to get over the fact that they were giant turtles. This was impossible, and Tatiana thought that she might be dreaming for a moment. It was only when she felt the stinging pain in her head that she knew that she was wide awake and that this was real.

"It's da freaks!" one of the Dragons shouted.

"Attacking a defenseless woman walking home from the store?! You dirtbags have sunk to a whole new level of low!" declared the turtle with the blue bandana. He had a voice that was authoritative and filled with bravery and courage.

"Yeah! Which means we're gonna have ta go up ta a whole new level of butt-whooping!" shouted the red bandana turtle. His voice was the one with the Brooklyn accent, and Tatiana realized that he was the one who'd first spoken.

"Get 'em!" the blond ordered, keeping a tight grip on Tatiana as his men leapt forward. Dragging her roughly to her feet, Tatiana looked and saw that the four turtles could seriously fight. They were decimating these Purple Dragons. Seizing the opportunity, she elbowed the leader in the stomach, turned, grabbed his wrist and flipped him, slamming him hard onto the ground, back first. The pain in her head reached a whole new level of painful, and Tatiana fell to her knees, clutching the side of her head, her hand becoming wet with her own blood.

"Donny!" she heard the red bandana turtle shout as he ran over to her. He knelt down beside her, and for a moment, their eyes locked. She could only see the whites, but there was something about him that she felt instantly drawn to. His skin was a dark shade of green, and he was broad-shouldered and all muscle. He must've worked out or something because Tatiana had only seen one other buff guy in her life, and that was Jacob. His mouth was moving, but she couldn't hear anything except a sort of buzzing noise in her ears. Then, the world went dark and Tatiana fainted, leaving herself at the mercy of the red bandana turtle and his friends in a dark alley in New York City.

**So...thoughts? Opinions? Concerns? Please review! I wanna see if I should continue this story or not. Cheers! :)**

**-Livangel16**


	2. Chapter 2

TMNT-The Sweetness of Love and Revenge

Summary: Tatiana Lupe is on the run from a Mexican drug cartel's assassination squad after her entire family is murdered in Laredo, Texas. She comes to New York City and meets the Turtles after being found half-dead in a street fight with the Purple Dragons. Tatiana has sworn to get revenge for the slaughter of her family, but when she falls in love with an unlikely character, she realizes that a blossoming friendship, a series of near-death experiences, and her desire for revenge could possibly destroy the life she's tried to rebuild. Leo/OC/Raph

**Hey everybody! So, sorry for being gone so long! But you know how hectic life can get! Thanks to all my reviewers: grapejuice101, Kimmie98, snow299, Winter'sFlame, Aster Sapphire, IAmTheDragonEmpress, flamedragon242, Mysterious Reader, ninja-warrior101, BubblyShell22, WolfAssassin369, missymousemonster, zrexheartz and bell-13-tmnt-lover! You guys are amazing! So, here's chapter two! Enjoy! :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT! I wish I did, but they belong to Eastman and Laird! This plot and all O/Cs DO belong to me!**

Chapter Two-First Impressions

_"Tatiana! Hurry up and get your ass down here before Jorge eats your waffles!" Penelope shouted. Tatiana smiled at her reflection once more in the mirror before heading down the stairs. After school, Juan Gutierrez was taking her out on a picnic dinner, and she wanted to look her best. After all, this was her first date before her __quinceañera_.

_"Finally! It took less time for God to send down the Spirit on Pentecost!" Penelope teased. Tatiana only rolled her eyes at her brunette sister. It was hard to believe that Penelope was only a year younger than Tatiana. Sometimes, the two sisters seemed years apart in age what with Tatiana being the impulsive, hotheaded older sister and Penelope being kindhearted and a little more open to expressing her feelings. _

_"Please! I never complained when **you** took **an hour and a half** to get ready to go to Monica's 13th birthday party!" Tatiana shot back. "Especially since you stole a pair of my earrings to impress Lucas Montenegro!"_

_"Hey! In my defense, I thought he was pretty smoking!" Penelope countered. "And I didn't tell Mama when you snuck out to see Juan a few nights ago, did I? Of course, now that I think about it, I still have to get you back for the time you told Papa about the whipped cream I put in his bottle of shaving cream."_

_"You are such a blackmailer!"_

_"It's an art, Tati! And I am a Picasso!"_

_"I'll be sure to tell him that when he comes back and haunts you for saying that!"_

_"You look great, sis," Penelope told her, smiling. "Juan won't be able to keep his eyes off you." Tatiana smiled back and allowed Penelope to pull her into a hug. _

_"Or his hands," Penelope added, smirking._

_"**Por favor, **Penny!" Tatiana giggled. "He'd be lucky to ever touch me! I'd break his hand if he ever tried it!" She smiled and pulled back before Penelope seized her shoulders and started shaking her._

_"Penny! What're you doing?!" Tatiana demanded._

_"I'm trying to get you to wake up!" Penelope shouted, shaking her harder._

_"What?! Penny, are you crazy?!" Tatiana shouted, trying to wrench herself free._

_"Just wake up, dudette!" Penelope shouted. Her voice was different now, like she was one of those California surfers Tatiana had seen in movies. "Just wake up! Wake up! WAKE UP!"_

* * *

_"_Mikey! Are you insane?!" Leo demanded, leaping onto his brother's shell. He'd just left the unconscious girl alone on the couch for a moment to talk to Master Splinter, and then he'd come back to find Mikey shaking the girl by her shoulders. "Get off her!"

"She was talking in her sleep!" Mikey shouted. "She might be having a nightmare!"

"I don't care! Get off her **right now**!" Leo ordered, holding on tightly to his baby brother, who was struggling hard against him.

"Get off **me**!" Mikey countered. Just then, Tatiana's eyes flew open, and she let loose a blood-curdling scream as she found herself face-to-face with the giant turtle with the orange bandana over his eyes. He screamed as well, high-pitched and girly in sound. Her fist flew up in defense, but the orange bandana turtle somehow managed to dodge it in time, so her punch ended up smacking the blue bandana turtle straight in the beak. Hard. The punch knocked him backwards as he rolled off, clutching his injury. The orange bandana turtle immediately tried to grab Tatiana's flailing arms and legs as the other two turtles came running into the room.

"Mikey! What'd ya do?!" the red bandana turtle shouted, pulling the turtle named Mikey away from Tatiana. The purple bandana turtle rushed over and gripped Tatiana's hand and barely leapt back from a fierce punch that would've sent him to Japan, airmail and special delivery.

"Careful, Donny!" the red bandana warned as the purple bandana turtle began to approach her. "She's vicious!"

"Easy! Take it easy!" the purple bandana turtle shouted, kneeling down next to her. He ducked and barely missed getting nailed with another punch. He gripped her wrists tightly enough to get her attention, but loosely enough so as not to hurt her."We're not going to hurt you!" She stopped struggling and looked at him.

_" ¿Quiénes sois vosotros? "_ she demanded quickly, her eyes wide with anger mixed in with fright.

"What?" he asked, looking nothing less than confused.

_"¿De __dónde estoy?"_ she asked.

"Donny! What da heck's she saying?!" Raph questioned the purple bandana turtle.

"I think she's speaking Spanish," the turtle named Donny replied.

"Den tell her ta speak English!" the red bandana shot back.

"All you had to do was ask, _chico_," Tatiana replied, giving a slight snort at their surprise that she could speak English fluently.

"What'd you call me?" the red bandana turtle inquired, his voice carrying a slightly menacing and tough undertone.

"Relax Red," she told him, holding up her hands in surrender. "It's not an insult. I'm just calling you that because I don't know your name."

"My name ain't Red, girly!" the red bandana turtle snapped.

"And my name isn't girly...Red!" Tatiana threw back, tossing her head and throwing her hair back. Raph couldn't help but stare at her eyes. They were fierce and blazed with a determination, a commitment not to back to anyone. It was almost like looking into a mirror and seeing his own eyes staring back at him.

"Is he always so...short-tempered?" Tatiana asked Donny, breaking eye contact with Raph.

"At least once every hour of the day," Donny chuckled. Tatiana smiled. "My name's Donatello. You can call me Don or Donny if you like."

"Nice to meet you, Donny," Tatiana said, shaking the hand he offered her, not feeling the spark of electricity that passed through their palms. But Don certainly did as his cheeks immediately turned a darker shade of green. He quickly hurried away, holding his hand in his other one as if her touch had somehow burned him. Tatiana noticed this and then stared at Raph, looking for an explanation.

"Is he alright?" Tatiana inquired.

"Who Donny?" Raph chuckled, gazing after the blushing genius. "Yeah. He's just not used to touching girls." Tatiana's eyes immediately narrowed. "Didn't mean like that girlie! Don's just a little...shy around the ladies."

"I'm guessing you guys don't get out much, uh...?" Tatiana began to ask, but she didn't want to continue the stupid, pointless argument with this fork-carrying turtle without his name. She was way too mature to keep this up.

"Name's Raphael," he replied. "You can call me Raph. What's yours?"

"Tatiana," she answered. "Tatiana Lupe. I go by Tat or Tati if you don't like saying my full name. Umm...Raph? Where's the turtle with the blue bandana?"

"Oh, Leo? He's in the kitchen getting an ice pack," Raph chuckled. "Apparently, that was some vicious right hook you gave him!"

"I wasn't aiming for him!" Tatiana protested. "It was the one in the orange bandana that I was aiming for!"

"Ya mean Mikey? Well, everyone wants ta punch **him**!" Raph snickered, causing Tatiana to smile. She didn't know why, but she suddenly felt really safe around Raphael. Maybe it was the fact that he had the aura of a tough guy. Maybe it was because he'd been the first one to have spoken in that alley. Just then, a flash of pain riveted through her head, and she immediately clutched it, trying to stem the pain.

"Are you feeling alright, Tat?" Raph asked.

"My head feels like it's gonna split open any second," she gritted out.

"Yo Donny! Quit hidin' from the pretty girl and bring some Advil or somethin'!" Raph shouted over the couch. Tatiana's headache didn't impair her hearing, and she heard every word that Raph had said to Donatello. _Pretty?_ she thought in her mind. _I'm no Megan Fox, but I've NEVER heard any guy call me beautiful except...Juan. Why am I even thinking about that loser?_

_Because you loved him, _a voice in her mind told her. _ He was the first guy for you. The first guy you ever kissed. The first guy you ever felt something for other than brotherly love. The first guy you..._

"Here," Donny said, handing her a couple of white pills and a glass of water. "These painkillers should help."

"Thanks Donny," she told him gratefully, smiling at him. Donatello blushed again. Tatiana's eyes met Raph's and the two of them tried not to burst out laughing. She took the two pills and washed them down with the glass, placing it down gently on the floor beside the couch.

"I can't **believe** she almost broke your beak, bro!" teased the same voice that Tatiana could've sworn had spoken to her in her dreams.

"Get off my shell, Mikey!" the other voice snapped back. Tatiana recognized it as the voice in the alley she'd heard after Raph's. "She was aiming for **you**!"

"Yeah! But she caught **you**!" Mikey retorted. Just then, they came into view. It was the blue bandana turtle named Leo and the orange bandana turtle named Mikey. Leo was holding a small bag of ice on his beak, and Mikey was twirling what looked like wooden sticks attached to chains. On Leo's shell were two swords, strapped across the shell. All four of them looked around the same height, but Leo and Raph **definitely **worked out more than Mikey and Don, even though those two had impressive muscles.

"Hey! How's da injured warrior?" Raph joked, elbowing Leo playfully in the side. Don snickered and hid his laugh behind a cough.

"Laugh it up, Hothead!" Leo snapped, rolling his eyes and smacking Raph on the shoulder. Then, his eyes fell on Tatiana. She was still bruised, dirty and battered from the fight in the alleyway. Cuts littered her arms and face. The head wound was wrapped tightly in gauze. Her clothes were stained and a little torn up from her struggle with the Purple Dragons. But other than that, she looked...alright. Better than alright. She looked _hot._ _Whoa! Where'd **that** come from? _Leo wondered aloud in his head. _I barely know the girl, and I already think she's hot? She must've jarred my brain or something when she punched me! _"Good. You're awake. We thought you might've fallen into a coma."

"Umm...sorry about the...right hook," Tatiana apologized. "If it's any consolation to you, I was aiming for Mikey. Not you."

"Forget about it," Leo told her, trying not to blush at the thought of a girl punching him hard enough to draw blood. "I'm Leonardo. You can call me Leo."

"Tatiana Lupe," Tatiana replied. "Tat or Tati are the other names I go by." Then, her eyes fell on Mikey, who immediately put away the sticks on chains in a belt he wore around his waist. He grinned sheepishly, rubbing his head shyly as he stepped forward.

"Umm...hey dudette," he said tentatively. "I...I'm sorry. About before. Shaking you and making you wanna punch me. And then making you punch Leo. Even though he kinda deserved it, and...!"

"Mikey, Leo didn't do anything to me to deserve a punch," Tatiana reminded him. "You, on the other hand, shook me awake from a dream for whatever reason! That punch had your name written all over it!"

"Yeah, well Leo's face had blood written all over it," Raph informed her, smirking at his older brother. "You've got some strength, Tat! It ain't easy drawin' blood from Fearless!"

"Fearless?" she repeated, looking at Leo for an answer.

"It's a **long** story," he groaned, rolling his eyes.

"Speaking of stories, what's the story behind you guys being...?" Tatiana began to ask, but she stopped short for fear of saying the wrong thing. After all, these guys had kicked major ass in that alleyway against a mob of armed gangsters. A defenseless girl (though she hated to call herself that) would be as easy as a cat playing with a dead mouse.

"Giant, talking, mutant ninja turtles?" Don finished. Tatiana nodded.

"It's a long and...well..._interesting_ story," Leo told her. "But first, we'd like to know what you were doing out on the streets so late?"

"Weren't the grocery bags I was holding a clue, Leonardo?" Tatiana shot back, trying hard to keep her temper in check.

"Yeah. But this is still **New York City**, Tatiana," Leo reminded her, speaking to her as if she was a child. "It's dangerous in the daytime, let alone **at night**."

"Well excuse me for not carrying around ninja weapons wherever I go like **some** people!" Tatiana snapped. "And in case you haven't noticed, I'm not from around here!"

"Then where are you from?" Don asked. He didn't have a suspicious tone in his voice like Leo did. He was just curious. Tatiana calmed down a little and turned away from Leo and looked at Don.

"I'm from Laredo, Texas," she informed him. Then, her eyes blazed as she turned back to Leo. "And I was born here in the States if my immigration status is any of your business! Which it **isn't**!" Leo simply rolled his eyes and let out a frustrated sigh.

"So...how old are you, dudette?" Mikey inquired.

"I'm sixteen years old. I'll be seventeen on May 16th," Tatiana answered. Then, she got a smirk on her face. "Why? You interested in me, _chico_?"

"Maybe. I mean, you're pretty hot," Mikey chuckled, smirking back at her.

"You don't even know me, and you're already hitting on me?! ADM!" Tatiana groaned playfully.

"ADM?" Raph inquired. "What's dat? Some sort of code?"

"It's short for _Ay Dios mio_," Tatiana explained. "In Spanish that means "Oh My God". My mother probably would've made me say ten Hail Marys for saying something like that. She was..." Then, she stopped and swallowed hard, remembering her mother, her zealously religious yet loving mother. It was her they got first. Said they wanted to get rid of the matriarch of the family before they went for the big prize.

"Tati? Tati? You alright?" Don prodded. Tatiana quickly shook herself before the memories took a larger hold of her.

"Yeah. Fine. Just...spaced out for a second," she answered, not looking at anyone in particular. Leo's eyes narrowed. She sounded as though there was something that she didn't want them to know. No matter how much he thought this girl was harmless, he was also still very suspicious of her. Common sense alone should've told the girl to stay off the streets at night. And now, she was spacing out randomly. What could she possibly be hiding?

"But anyways, I believe you were asking us about how we became the handsome, courageous and daring mutant, ninja turtles you see before you today?" Mikey reminded her.

"Yes. I was," she said, smiling again. Mikey may have been the annoying turtle who'd jumped her while she was sleeping, but he seemed like a harmless sweetheart and was also sort of funny as well. Just like Jorge. "How did you four become...what you are today?"

"I believe **I **can explain, young lady," came a voice. It was serious and calm, and it came from a huge, five foot rat with brown fur wearing a brown robe and leaning on a walking stick. His eyes were brown and wide, but they looked kind. "My name is Hamato Splinter. I am the boys' ninjitsu sensei and their father."

"Pleased to meet you Hamato Splinter," Tatiana replied, smiling a bit nervously. _Great!_ she thought to herself. _First giant, talking turtles and now, a giant, talking rat! What's next? A talking bunny rabbit and a rhino?! _"I'm Tatiana Lupe."

"A pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Lupe," Splinter replied, bowing to her. "Please feel free to call me Master Splinter or simply Splinter if you wish."

"Alright...Master Splinter," Tatiana responded. "How did you and your..._sons _become...like..._this_?"

"It's a really good story, dudette!" Mikey said, sounding excited as he sat down on the arm of the couch close to her head. Master Splinter sat down on the couch next to her.

"I remember that an old, blind man was crossing the street one day when a truck came out of nowhere," Master Splinter explained. "In the commotion trying to save him, a jar with four, infant turtles was knocked out of a young boy's hands and smashed on the curb, sending the four into the water that led to the sewer. As the truck swerved, a canister fell from the back. It drifted into the sewers with them, smashing open and covering them as well as myself with a mysterious, green ooze. After bringing them back to my burrow, I saw that they had tripled in size. The ooze changed me as well as I became intelligent as well as grew. They stuck with me and eventually even said my name. Through the years, I trained them in the ancient art of ninjitsu. And from a book on Renaissance arts that I drew out of a storm drain, I chose these names for them: Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo. And that is our story, Miss Lupe."

"But how did you learn martial arts, Master Splinter?" Tatiana inquired.

"That is a story for another time," the aging rat replied. "For now, I am asking you to keep our existence a secret. The surface dwellers would not understand that my sons and I are harmless and peaceful. Instead, they would judge us by our looks and immediately try to dissect us or kill us."

"I promise that no one will ever know of your existence from me," Tatiana told them, raising her right hand in the air like she was being sworn in by the court. "You can trust me."

"I hope so," Leonardo said to her, eyes narrowed. Tatiana's temper immediately got the better of her, and this time, she couldn't fight it down. She was tired of this guy acting like he knew everything about her and that she was supposed to probably pine and simper like any rescued "damsel". _Well screw Leo the Lionhearted if he thinks I'm just gonna fall apart in his arms or something!_ Tatiana thought to herself.

"What's your deal, Leonardo?!" she demanded angrily, standing up and facing off with the mutant turtle. "First, you make it sound like I wanted to get jumped and harassed by those assholes! Then, you start interrogating me like I'm a criminal or something! And now you act as if the minute your backs are turned, I'm gonna go and blab to the entire world that I was rescued by a bunch of giant, mutant, ninja turtles! Well, here's some info for you, _chico_: when I promise to keep my mouth shut, I do it. When I give my word, I keep it. It's sacred!"

"I never accused you of anything!" Leo said defensively.

"Sure didn't sound like it from where I'm standing!" Tatiana argued. "Is this how you always are with girls who slug you in the face?" Leo's face was incredulous with shock and anger.

"I thought **you** said it was an accident!" Leo growled, narrowing his eyes.

"It **was**!" she snapped back, narrowing her eyes right back and looking him dead in the whites of his eyes. "But now I'm starting to think that maybe I **did **catch the right guy with that right hook!"

"Ouch!" Mikey commented, cringing slightly. Leo and Tatiana continued glaring at each other until she finally turned away and looked back at Master Splinter.

"Thank you for your hospitality, Master Splinter," Tatiana said gratefully, turning back to the mutant rat and smiling politely. "But I think it'd be best if I left right now."

"Yes. I believe that would be best," Master Splinter agreed, gazing at his eldest son. "But know that you are welcome in our home as a guest any time you wish, Miss Lupe."

"Thank you, Master Splinter," Tatiana replied, smiling and bowing slightly. Then, she turned to Raph, Mikey and Don, purposely avoiding Leo. "Hopefully, I'll see you all sometime soon."

"We should **totally** chill out another time, Tat!" Mikey agreed enthusiastically. "I can even teach ya some moves on Halo!"

"Sounds great, Mikey!" Tatiana laughed, and then she became serious. "I just wanted to say to you all...thanks for saving me back there...even though I could've handled it."

"Sure, girlie!" Raph chuckled. "Keep right on thinking dat!"

"You doubt my ability to kick ass, _chico_?" Tatiana shot back playfully, putting her hands on her hips. "Get on my bad side and see what happens to you! Hell hath no fury like when I'm pissed off!"

"Oooo! I'm shaking** so** bad!" Raph joked, pretending to shiver with fear. Don and Mikey laughed aloud while Master Splinter smirked a little. Leo didn't even crack a smile. For some reason, this really bugged Tatiana, who locked eyes with him one last time and then took off almost abruptly for the Lair entrance without another word to anyone. The doors slid open and Tatiana walked right into the sewers and followed the tunnel, splashing through the waters. She didn't even care where she was going. She just needed to get as far away from the Turtles' home as possible.

"Yo Tat! Wait up!" she heard Raph call out. She turned around and saw him running after her. He finally caught up with her as she continued to storm down the sewer tunnel. Then, he grabbed her shoulder and whirled her around. "Can't ya even say goodbye before you leave?"

"Look, Raph. I couldn't stay in there for one more second!" Tatiana explained. "If I did, then Leo and I would've...! He's just so...GAH! Who does he think he is?!"

"I've been asking myself dat same questions fer years, Tat," Raph chuckled. "Still haven't come up with an answer."

"What are you doing here anyways?" Tatiana inquired.

"Just wondering if ya...well...if ya wanted me ta walk with ya to yer place," Raph admitted.

"Sure. Thanks," Tatiana replied, smiling a bit. "I'd get lost trying to find my way out of here anyways."

"Where do ya live?"

"125 3rd Street. It's an apartment complex." Raph nodded and the two recommenced walking side by side. Then, the conversation turned back to Leo.

"I just don't understand why he hates me so much!" Tatiana exclaimed angrily, clenching her fists.

"Look. Fearless isn't used ta the damsels we rescue punching him or trying to take him down a peg or two," Raph told her. "But I don't think he hates ya. At least, not dat much."

"That makes me feel **so **much better!" Tatiana scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Maybe...maybe he even regrets saving me from those thugs."

"Now I **know** yer talkin' crazy! Fearless never regrets saving anyone's life, Tat. Trust me on that one. Give 'im some time. He'll get used to ya."

"You seemed to have gotten used to me pretty fast."

"Well, yer...yer different from other girls we've rescued. And not just 'cause ya gave Leo a right hook that made 'im bleed."

"Although that's a bonus, right?" Raph laughed aloud after she said that. She smiled a bit. She liked his laugh: deep and slightly throaty. It was nice to hear it. It sort of reminded her of her father. She bit her lip when she thought of her father, but released it before Raph could sense that something was amiss.

"Yeah. Yeah, dat's a bonus. But ya never seem ta wanna back down ta anybody. And ya definitely got more lip dan any girl I've ever met before. Except maybe April."

"My Papa used to call me the fighter of the family. I wanna live to that name, Raphael. I have to."

"Why?"

"Just...I have to, alright?! That's all there is to it!"

"Whoa! Take it easy! Sheesh! Yer acting like it ain't none of my business!"

"Well it **isn't**, OK?!"

"What's with you?! Suddenly yer on da warpath against **me?!** What'd I do?!"

"I dunno! Maybe stick your beak in where it doesn't belong!"

"Wow! So because I'm tryin' ta get ta know ya better, I'm stickin' my beak where it don't belong, is that it?!" Tatiana was stunned. All he wanted was to get to know her better. She looked up and into the whites of his mask. She couldn't see his eyes, but the look he was giving her made her feel at least two feet tall. He was telling the truth.

"Raph, I...I...I didn't know. I'm sorry. I've kind of got a...little bit of a temper."

"If dat's what ya call "little", den I hate to think o' what **mine** could be called!"

"Heaven forbid **that**, Raph!"

"Very funny, Tat!" Finally, they reached the ladder to the manhole. Tatiana looked and saw the small sign on the wall close to the manhole cover. 3rd Street.

"I'll go first," Raph told her, climbing up the ladder. "When I give the all-clear, climb up. Then, you go inside and flash yer lights three times so dat I know ya made it inside safe and sound. Got it?"

"Got it." Raph shoved the manhole cover off and then jumped out. Then, he whispered down, "All clear!" Tatiana began climbing the ladder when her foot slipped on a bit of strange slime. She teetered a bit and lost her grip on the ladder. Fortunately, Raph seized her wrist before she could plummet to the hard concrete slab beneath her.

"You OK?" he asked her as he pulled her up and out of the sewers.

"Yeah. Thanks for the save," she replied. "That's twice now."

"Let's not go for three in a row, deal?"

"Deal." She looked up and saw that this manhole was right beside her apartment building. Tatiana, with Raph sticking closely to the shadows, began walking out of the alleyway towards the front of the complex.

"Dis is as far as I can go," Raph informed her when they reached the edge of the alley.

"Umm...thanks for walking me home, Raph," Tatiana told him. "I really...appreciate it."

"No problem. Umm...here." He pressed a strange-looking object into her hand. It looked like a turtle's shell. She looked back up at him for an explanation.

"It's a Shell-cell," Raph explained. "It's like a cell phone, but way cooler. Ta me anyways. It's got all our numbers in it, so whenever ya wanna chill out, just ring us."

"Thanks Raph," she said, smiling up at him. "I never expected a tough guy like you to be so sweet."

"Don't ya dare think I'm a teddy bear, girlie! I ain't goin' soft!"

"Don't call me "girlie", Red!"

"Den don't call me "Red"...girlie!"

"You are **such** a pain in the ass!"

"Deal with it, kid! Now, get going! I don't want yer parents ta think dat ya got kidnapped or somethin'!" Tatiana's heart skipped a beat when she heard Raph mention her parents. No matter if he walked her home or not, she couldn't trust him with the truth. Not yet.

"Yeah. I know. My..._mom_...will freak out," Tatiana managed to say. Raph stared at her for a moment before nodding and melting back into the shadows, out of sight. The young Latina hurried inside her building, thundering up the stairs and sprinted into her apartment. Locking the door behind her, she quickly hurried into her bedroom, which was facing the alley. She looked down and saw, through the tangle of fire escapes, Raphael in the shadows. His eyes found hers, and she could sense his impatience. Quickly, she hurried over to the light switch and flicked the lights on and off three times. She went back to the window, expecting to see Raph gone, the manhole cover replaced.

But he was still there.

He stood there in the darkness of the alley, still concealed partially in the shadows, but a little further out so that she could see him. The red of his bandana was as bright as the sun in the darkness, his broad, muscular figure as clear as the waters of a lake in the dimness. She stood there, watching him as he watched her. He seemed to be waiting for something; a dismissal or some other sign from her.

Tatiana raised her hand and gave him a small wave. Every moment that ticked by seemed like hours until finally Raph raised his hand and waved back to her. Then, with a stealthy, quick flip, he disappeared into the manhole. The cover was drawn back into place, and then, there was nothing but silence. And as Tatiana laid down on her bed, not bothering to change into her pajamas, she couldn't help but remember her parents, Penelope and Jorge and what they'd say if they knew that she'd met four, huge, talking, ninja turtles and their mutant, rat sensei/father.

"They'd probably think I was crazy or just dreaming," she muttered to herself as she burrowed beneath her sheets. And as sleep closed over her, Tatiana couldn't help but think that maybe, just maybe, this entire situation with her family, the Fantastic Four and now the Turtles,was somehow just one, huge, long dream that she'd wake up from soon...she hoped.

**So, there you have it folks! I'll try not to take so long with the next chapter! Anyways, questions? Comments? Concerns? If not, reviews please and thank you very much! ****Cheers! :)**

**-Livangel16**


	3. Chapter 3

TMNT-The Sweetness of Love and Revenge

Summary: Tatiana Lupe is on the run from a Mexican drug cartel's assassination squad after her entire family is murdered in Laredo, Texas. She comes to New York City and meets the Turtles after being found half-dead in a street fight with the Purple Dragons. Tatiana has sworn to get revenge for the slaughter of her family, but when she falls in love with an unlikely character, she realizes that a blossoming friendship, a series of near-death experiences, and her desire for revenge could possibly destroy the life she's tried to rebuild. Leo/OC/Raph

**Hey everybody! So, sorry for being gone so long! But you know how hectic life can get! Thanks to all my reviewers: grapejuice101, Kimmie98, SwiftFox, JellyBeez, Aster Sapphire, IAmTheDragonEmpress, flamedragon242, Guest, ninja-warrior101, BubblyShell22, WolfAssassin369, missymousemonster and zrexheartz! You guys are amazing! So, chapter three is here! Enjoy! :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT! I wish I did, but they belong to Eastman and Laird! This plot and all O/Cs DO belong to me!**

Chapter Three-Video Games, Chemistry and The Lions' Den

Tatiana woke up the next morning to the sound of what sounded like rock music playing by her bedside table. Glancing over, she spotted the Shell-cell vibrating on the wood of the table. _Guess I wasn't dreaming after all,_ Tatiana thought to herself as she stretched over and grabbed the ringing Shell-cell. _Oh damn it! I forgot to ask Raph how to answer this thing!_

Spotting a button in the center, she pressed it and the phone opened up.

"Hello?" came the voice of Donny.

"Donny? Is that you?" Tatiana asked, putting the phone to her ear and sitting up in her bed.

"Uh...y-yeah," Don answered, sounding a little nervous. Tatiana smiled, remembering Raph mentioning that Donny was a little shy around girls. "Umm...h-how are you? Did you...umm...sleep good? I mean, well? Did you sleep well?"

"My head was paining me for a bit, but I managed to get some sleep," she answered truthfully. She felt the gauze bandage on her head. It was a little looser than it had been last night. Or maybe she'd just gotten used to it.

"Yeah. I'll need to take another look at the wound to see if any of the stitches have popped and to change the dressing," Don informed her, losing the nervousness in his voice for a moment.

"What time should I swing by your office, Doctor Hamato?" Tatiana asked playfully. She almost laughed when she thought she heard him squeak with nervousness on the other end of the line.

"Umm...anytime today since we're...uh... not really doing much outside of training," Don replied.

"Alright. But I might be a while since I've got chemistry homework to do," Tatiana informed him, trying her hardest not to groan. It wasn't that she wasn't intelligent, but organic chemistry was **way** tougher than regular chemistry. And her chem. teacher, Mrs. Reinbeck , was not helping by giving them loads of organic chemical equations to do for the weekend and testing them on it in two weeks time.

"Chemistry?" Don repeated, sounding a little excited.

"Yeah. You know, the study of chemicals and their reactions," Tatiana answered.

"I know what it is, Tati!" Don laughed, sounding a little more at ease. "You know, I could help you with your homework. If you want."

"Really?!"

"Yeah. I'm kind of a nerd and stuff, so I should be able to help you figure the stuff out."

"Donatello Hamato, you are an **angel** and I seriously love you!"

"Tati, we...we barely know each other and...!"

"What?! Oh! You thought I meant...! Donny, I'm just really happy to be getting some help with organic chemistry, that's all! Don't have a heart attack!"

"Did you say organic chemistry?! That's like child's play to me!"

"Well, hope you're ready to play, Einstein, because it's a long game with these equations."

"Bring it on, Tati! I can do organic chemistry in my sleep!"

"Alright, Donny! Umm...I've kind of forgotten how to get to the Lair. Could you give me directions?"

"How about I just come and pick you up at your place? 125 3rd Street, right?"

"Yeah. How did you-?"

"I heard Raph mention it to Master Splinter last night after he came back from walking you home. I'll be there in about twenty minutes."

"I'll be ready."

* * *

Tatiana couldn't believe that she was waiting in a sewer tunnel for a talking, mutant turtle to come and pick her up so that he could help her with her chemistry homework! If she'd been living in Laredo with her family and someone had told her this would happen, she'd have either punched them or had them committed to a psychiatric hospital.

Just then, she saw two, large lights growing larger and larger from the left. Finally, what looked like a huge, gliding jeep touched down in front of her, Donatello at the wheel.

"Hey Tati," Don said, smiling nervously as he hopped out of the vehicle. "How...how's it going?"

"I'll be a lot better when this annoying chemistry homework is done," she answered, shifting her backpack slightly on her shoulder. She was wearing boot-cut jeans in black and an off-the-shoulder, sapphire-blue top. Her black hair was tied up in a high ponytail. Don was trying not to openly stare at her as he helped her into the Sewer Slider. He then hopped into the Sewer Slider and took off for the Lair. The air whipped her hair back and Tatiana had never felt more alive and safe.

"Where did you guys get this thing, Donatello?!" Tatiana inquired as they zoomed through the sewer tunnels. "It's completely incredible!"

"I...uh...I kinda...built it myself," Don confessed. "It's called the Sewer Slider." Tatiana turned to him, mouth agape and looking awed.

" You built this?! How smart are you?!" Tati demanded in amazement.

"Well, I've never had my IQ tested, but if I had to estimate it, it would be somewhere between possibly 196 and 300."

"Whoa! That's like...supercomputer smart! My IQ's only 140."

"That's still **really** high, Tati!"

"Says the mutant ninja turtle with the IQ of 300!" Just then, they reached a huge, blank wall at the end of the tunnel. Powering down the Sewer Slider temporarily, Don hopped out, turned a wheel in a pipe nearby to reveal a keypad. Typing in the code, he hopped back into the Sewer Slider and drove them into the Lair.

"Welcome to the Lair, Tati," Don told her as the Sewer Slider cruised inside the large, spacious den the Turtles and Master Splinter called home. It landed beside a large, metal door with a sign in red letters that read Private-Unauthorized Entry Strictly Prohibited. Tati had just undone her seatbelt and was about to leap out of the vehicle when a green hand appeared beside her.

"No, no, fair maiden! Allow your brave and handsome Battle Nexus Champion to help you out from the lofty Sewer Slider," Mikey said in a "Prince Charming" voice. Tatiana smiled and rolled her eyes, but she let him carry on with his antics and help her out.

"Thank you, Sir Michelangelo," Tatiana replied in a mock "princess" voice. She curtsied and the two of them burst out laughing before Mikey engulfed her in a hug.

"How's it hanging, Tat?" Mikey asked her. She smiled and hugged him back. Usually Tatiana didn't let people in so easily, but Mikey just seemed to have this effect on people where even the strongest walls crumbled with his warmth and friendliness.

"Pretty alright, Mikey," she replied, shouldering her backpack. "Donny's just gonna help me with some chemistry homework. Where's Raph and...Leo?"

"They're in the dojo," Mikey told her. "C'mon. We'll take you there, right Donny?"

"Uh...sure! Why not?!" Donny exclaimed, smiling nervously. Mikey offered Tatiana his arm, and looping her arm through his and Donny's, they set off across the Lair, Mikey taking up the role as her personal tour guide.

"Over here's the kitchen. The living room. Don's room. My room. Master Splinter's room. Leo and Raph have their rooms upstairs. And now...the Dojo of Doom!" Mikey announced as they came to a large, circular area of the Lair. It looked like a huge dome with a stack of weapons placed carefully in one corner far away from the center.

"Looks like those two are at it **again**!" Don observed, hiding a frustrated groan. Tatiana's eyes moved from the weapons to the center of the dojo. There, she saw Leo and Raph fighting. Leo's swords were out and so were Raph's (though she still didn't know what they were called). The two of them were fighting hard, faces set, teeth clenched and reflexes working at incredible speeds. Kicks, sword strikes, flips and punches flew like lightning with matching dodges. They were like two alpha male wolves battling for domination and respect. And Tatiana couldn't help but be mesmerized by Leo's grace and style, Raph's determination and fluidity, and their combined skill and flawless execution.

They were incredible. And she was more shocked by the fact that they were around the same age as her and so amazing at fighting. They could deck her in two seconds with minimal effort.

"Close your mouth before something flies into it, Tat!" Mikey chuckled, gently snapping her fallen jaw closed again. Even Don was smirking at her, which annoyed her even more. She never openly gaped at guys (not even her hot, Ukrainian co-worker Jacob) because she didn't want people to read her and find out about...everything. Her past life, past boyfriends, past experiences; anything that she hadn't buried in the graveyard of forgotten memories was open to be read by anyone (especially a guy) who got too close. She shook herself before either of them caught on to her silence and questioned her about it.

"Well sorry!" she said playfully, rolling her eyes. "It's not every day that I see teenage mutant ninja turtles fighting in front of me!"

"Point taken," Don chuckled. Tatiana watched as Leo flipped backwards in the air before kicking Raph hard in the face, sending him stumbling backwards before running forward as fast as a lightning bolt and with one sword slice, Raph's swords fell out of his hands and he himself fell to the ground of the dojo. Leo stood over his opponent and bowed to him before twirling his swords in his hands rapidly before sheathing them in the holders on his shell.

"Whoa!" Tatiana breathed. Leo might have been irritating and a condescending jerk, but he had _mad_ skill.

"Nice moves, bro!" Mikey exclaimed, leaping down and walking across the dojo towards Leo. He passed by a groaning Raph and said, "Better luck next time, Raphie Boy!"

"Why you little-!" Raph growled.

"Easy Raph!" Don told him, holding back a chuckle. "Mikey's just having a little fun! And you'll get Leo next time!"

"That's becoming a catchphrase of yours, Donny!" Leo chuckled as he wiped some of the sweat from his forehead.

"Are you OK?" Leo heard a familiar voice ask. He whipped around and saw Tatiana standing beside Raph, her hands stretched out to him. He shook his head and leapt to his feet, unaided by her.

"What's **she** doing here?" Leo demanded, looking Tatiana dead in the eye. His eyes weren't angry, but the tone of his voice set her on edge immediately.

"Hello to you too, Leonardo," Tatiana grumbled as she stood at Raph's side.

"Why are you back here?" he asked, crossing his arms over his plastron. Mikey, Raph and Don may have been ready to trust this girl, but there was something about her that had Leo keeping his guard up. What kind of girl went out for groceries at night in a big city like New York without thinking that it might (and had turned out to) be dangerous? And where had she learned to punch like that? His beak was still tender after he'd iced it several times. No normal girl could punch a skilled ninja that hard.

"Donny called to check up on me and then offered to help me with my chemistry homework," Tatiana explained, hands on her hips. One thing that Leo could clearly see was that she didn't back down to anyone very easily. And as much as it annoyed him to say it, it was actually kind of...refreshing. Heck, it was downright attractive. _Attractive?! _he mentally scolded himself. _Get your head out of the gutter, Hamato Leonardo! This girl may be out to harm you and your family! You can't afford to get distracted by her..."tough girl" act!_

"Donny called you?" Leo repeated, looking at his brother.

"She might've gotten a concussion or something, Leo!" Don replied, looking both flustered and angry about being put on the spot. "I wanted to make sure she was alright! Then she told me that she had chemistry homework to do, and I...well I...I offered my help."

"C'mon Leo! Lighten up!" Mikey told him, throwing a brotherly arm around his shoulders. "I'm sure Tat won't punch you in the face again! That is, unless you give her a reason!"

"Does being annoying count ?" Tatiana asked as her eyes and Leo's were locked on to each other, the two of them engaged in a stare down.

"Whatever!" Leo huffed, striding out of the dojo .

"What **is** his problem?!" Tatiana snarled when Leo was out of earshot.

"Beats me, Tat," Raph said, shrugging. "But whatever it is, it's got Fearless working overtime on his training. Usually, we end up in a tie in dese kinds of fights. Today, he waxed my shell."

"Great! So I gave the same turtle I punched a case of paranoia?!" Tatiana groaned. "This just gets better and better!"

"I know I'm gonna regret this dudette," Mikey told her, "but Leo's been wound up way tighter than usual since we rescued you last night. I think he thinks you're like...a spy or something from Hun or the Shredder."

"Hun? Shredder? Who the Hell are those people?" Tatiana asked, looking nothing less than confused.

"They're...enemies of ours," Don answered. "Hun leads the Purple Dragons, the same goons who attacked you. And Hun follows the Shredder, who leads a ninja clan called the Foot. He murdered our grandfather, Hamato Yoshi to get information."

"Information on what?" Tatiana inquired.

"That's none of your business!" she heard Leo snap. A towel was around his neck and shoulders, and the whites of his eyes were hard and cold as they glared at her with suspicion.

"I think it is or I wouldn't have asked!" Tatiana growled back, clenching her fists. "You don't think that the bastards who attacked me are spilling their guts to their boss, telling him how four mutant turtles came and rescued me?! ADM,Leo! Use your brain and think before you snap at me! They're going to think I know something or try and use me to get to you four!"

"Let's hope not," Don told her. "It could make things a lot more dangerous for us."

"I agree with Donny," Leo seconded. Then, he looked directly at Tatiana. "The last thing we need is another burden."

"**I'm **a burden?!" Tatiana demanded, teeth clenched and blood pounding in her head. Any second now, she was gonna sock this jerk in the face again. And this time, she'd actually _mean_ it.

"No Tat. You ain't," Raph answered, glaring daggers at Leo. "Fearless here is just being a pain in da shell. As usual. " Leo and Raph stood locked in a perpetual glaring contest until Leo finally turned and stalked off. An uneasy, angry silence remained as Tatiana silently stewed in her rage while the three mutant brothers silently wondered just what was eating at their older brother so much that he'd accuse their new friend of being a spy?

"So...I think we'd better get a jumpstart on that chemistry homework, Tati," Don said, breaking the silence. "C'mon. I'll take you to my lab."

"Sure, Donny," Tatiana replied, stalking off out of the dojo. The genius turtle had to run a marathon just to catch up with her.

* * *

"You built all this stuff, Donny?!" Tatiana asked in amazement. Donatello's lab was filled with all kinds of high-tech gadgets and gizmos, all of them designed by the mutant turtle himself. _Einstein would **kill** to see this! _she thought to herself as she picked up a silver disc-like object and examined it.

"Yes. I did," Don answered for what must have been the umpteenth time since they'd come into the lab. He reached over and took the disc away from her. "Now it's time to focus on your homework, Tatiana."

"Yes sir," she chuckled as she sat down at the desk and drew out her chemistry textbook and her notebook out of her bag. Don rolled his eyes but smiled as he leaned over her shoulder and examined the equations on the page of her textbook.

"OK. Which ones do you have to do?" Don inquired.

"All the odd ones on page 347 and all the even ones on page 348," Tatiana replied, tilting her head back to look into Don's face. He blushed for a moment but then regained his composure and studied the page once again before nodding.

"I think two genius brains like ours can decode these organic chemical equations," he told her, a proud smile on his face.

Tatiana sat forward and began to work on the equations. She was able to get through the first ten with no problem, but later on, Don had to explain to her what she was mixing up and which reactions made which product. And after several mistakes, Tatiana was starting to get the hang of it. After what seemed like hours, the last equation was done and Tatiana slammed her textbook shut and shouted, "Finished!"

"You did amazing, Tatiana! I'm proud of you!" Don told her. She swiveled around in the chair and faced him.

"But I couldn't have done it without you, Donny!" she replied, smiling. "You are the most amazing person ever, Donatello! Gosh, I could kiss you right now!"

"Really?!" Don asked, sounding pleasantly shocked. Then he saw her blush and quickly backpedaled. "I...uh...I meant...um..."

"It's fine. Don't worry about it," Tatiana told him, holding up a hand. Just then, Mikey popped his head into the lab.

"Hey Donny! You and Tat finished yet?!" he asked.

"Yes. We just..." Don began to say, but then Mikey shouted, "Great!" and then zoomed into the lab, seized Tatiana by the wrist, and then zoomed out, almost dragging her along.

"Mikey! Where are you taking me?!" Tatiana demanded as the living room came into view. There was a faint sound of music, like the kind you'd hear in cartoons, playing.

"The living room," Mikey answered as they came to a video game system with one controller lying on the stone floor.

"Why?"

"Well, I figured that after burning your brain out with chemistry homework that you'd want something to do that was a little less...school-like."

"And what exactly did you have in mind?"

"The renowned Dr. Michelangelo prescribes a whole two hours of non-stop, video gaming fun!" Tatiana laughed as Mikey struck a pose before leading her over to the

"We'll start off with something easy," Mikey told her as he popped in a disk into the system. Just then Tatiana saw the screen light up with a huge picture of Mario and Luigi. Mario Karts. She smiled sadly as she remembered that this had been Jorge's favorite game. But she pushed those thoughts aside as she selected Luigi and Mikey chose Bowzer. Then, the race was on. Tatiana was ahead for a portion of the race, but then, Mikey hit her with a cheat and then zoomed ahead. Tatiana furiously tried to outrace him, but he knew every trick in the book and always managed to keep her behind him. The checkered flag came and Bowzer crossed the Finish Line followed by Luigi, Princess Peach and Yoshi.

"HA! I win!" Mikey declared, throwing up his hands in triumph.

"No fair! Cheater!" Tatiana laughed as she lightly pushed Mikey. "I demand a rematch!" Mikey laughed and pushed her back as she pressed "Replay".

"Fine dudette," Mikey agreed as they both selected the same characters as before. But this time, Tatiana watched Mikey carefully and mimicked exactly what he did. And thanks to Luigi's lighter weight, it was Tatiana that soared across the Finish Line to take the checkered flag.

"HA! **I win**!" Tatiana cheered, as she did a little break dancing move while still seated on the floor.

"I **let** you win, Tat!" Mikey chuckled. Tatiana groaned in frustration before tossing the controller down on the ground and walking out of the living room. Without thinking, she found that she'd wandered right back into the dojo. Her gaze was drawn to the mysterious glass case in the corner. Slowly, she approached it and stared into it, gazing down in wonder at the swords in the case. In the light of the Lair, the blades gave a deadly glint when the light hit them. They were breathtakingly deadly, their crafted shape, design and length both fatal and beautiful. She looked and saw that a lock was looped tightly around the wooden handles of the doors of the glass case. Whoever owned these amazing swords was serious about their security.

"I wonder who would locked up their swords like this?" she said aloud to herself.

"They're called _katanas_," a voice said from behind her. She whipped around and saw Leo leaning casually against a nearby column, arms crossed over his plastron. He almost looked like a gangster.

"You almost gave me a heart attack!" she snapped, her hand at her chest and breathing hard.

"Maybe you shouldn't be sneaking around then," he countered as he pushed himself off the wall and walked towards her. Truth be told, Leo didn't really think she was sneaking around. She was probably just curious about his katanas. But then again, you could never be too careful.

"I wasn't sneaking around!" Tatiana growled at him, narrowing her eyes. She swore that she was going to be blind before long from squinting at the mutant turtle. "Mikey and I were playing video games, and I needed a break, so I..."

"Mikey gave you the whole "welcome-to-the-family-let's-play-some-Mario-Karts-just-so-I-can-show-off-my-amazing-gaming-skills routine?"

"Yeah. Pretty much." Leo chuckled, which made Tatiana smile just a bit. His chuckle was deep and yet merry at the same time. It made her stomach churn just a little.

"That's Mikey for you."

"He's really sweet and friendly. And so easygoing."

"Yeah. He's still a kid at heart, but his heart's a heart of gold." There was silence between the two, but this time, it wasn't unpleasant. Then Leo broke it and looked back at Tatiana. "But anyways, I believe you wandered in here to stare at my katanas?"

"Those are _yours_?!" Tatiana screeched in shock, looking from the swords in the case to Leo. Leo frowned at her.

"You sound surprised," he told her as he stepped past her and stood before the case. "Only the most skilled ninja can wield the katana. It's one of the most advanced weapons in ninjitsu. Many of the samurai used it."

"So then why do you keep them locked up?" Tatiana questioned.

"Let's just say I'm very..._possessive _when it comes to my swords," Leo replied, smirking. "No one touches my babies but me. **No one.**"

"Yeesh! You really **are** possessive!" Tatiana snorted, rolling her eyes. "How does your girlfriend deal with you?"

"Does it look like I can have a girlfriend, Lupe?!" he retorted, rolling his eyes at her.

"With an attitude like that, no. I take it back! Any girl would do well to stay away from you!"

"Oh yeah?! Wait...what do **you **know anyways?!" Tatiana's temper began to boil over like a hot pot of water on a stove. This guy **clearly** didn't know who he was messing with.

"Plenty Leonardo!"

"Oh really?" He smirked at her like he knew something that she didn't. "Like what?"

"Like **this!**" Her fist flew forward to smash into his face, but as fast as a lightning bolt across a stormy sky, Leo's hand caught her fist and held it back, no matter how hard she pushed against his hand. Then, he was behind her, twisting both her arms painfully around her back.

"Nice try, Lupe," he whispered in her ear. "But you aren't going to get two lucky hits in a row!"

"Let go of me, you jerk!" she hissed venomously as she struggled against him.

"You're not really in a position to make demands of me, Lupe!" he chuckled darkly.

"You sorry little _hijo de puta_!" she growled. "Let me go right now!"

"Not until you promise not to hit me, Lupe. Deal?"

"Fine. Deal. Now let go of my arms. You're hurting me." He released her arms and watched as she massaged them lightly. He suddenly felt a twinge of guilt radiate through him. This wasn't how a true ninja acted. Especially not with a girl. What was he thinking, wrenching her arms behind her back like she was his prisoner or something? What was wrong with him?

"I didn't...I didn't really hurt you. Did I?" he asked her, trying to hide his concern, but failing.

"No," she answered. "You didn't hurt me." Leo breathed a sigh of relief and missed seeing Tatiana's fist flying towards him until it smashed into his cheek and sent him flying to the floor of the dojo hard. "But I sure as Hell hope that **I **hurt **you**!"

Leo growled as he stood up and watched Tatiana storm out of the dojo. _Man! Sometimes I really think that I'm too merciful!_ he thought to himself as he went to get another ice pack from the freezer.

* * *

"You're leaving already Tat?!" Mikey asked in shock as Don got the Sewer Slider out of the garage and piloted it close to the small pond. She'd decided that after hiding her bruised and swelling knuckles from the others, she needed to clear out of the Lair. Especially before she ran into Leo again. Usually, Tatiana would never run from a fight. But when it was a fight against a mutant turtle with deadly ninja skills who could wield katanas like it was nobody's business, she knew that her chances were slim to none of coming out unscathed, let alone winning the fight.

"It's been fun and everything, Mikey," Tatiana replied. "But I really have to get home and start looking after dinner and stuff. You can call me later if you want."

"But it's not the same!" Mikey whined. She smiled at his whiny tone. He was fifteen, only a year younger than her, but she felt as though he acted as though he was only a seven year old .

"I know, _chico_," she responded, patting him on the shell. "But I'll come back another day. I give you my word."

"I'm gonna hold you to that, Tat!" Mikey said before crushing her in a hug.

"Let's hit the road, Tati," Don said, hopping out of the Sewer Slider to help her inside.

"I got dis one, Donny," Raph told his brother, appearing out of nowhere like a ghost and scaring the crap out of everyone. "You go back to yer mad scientist lab and come up with some whacko crazy invention that'll save our shells one day!"

"Geez! Warn a turtle when ya wanna sneak up on him, would ya?! And very funny, Raph!" Don huffed before stalking off to his laboratory and slamming the heavy, metal door shut. Tatiana was slightly confused but still allowed Raph to help her into the Sewer Slider. Before long, they were flying through the doors of the Lair and gliding through the underground sewers of New York City.

"So, how'd ya hurt yer hand, Tat?" Raph asked, not missing the swollen, scraped knuckles on her right hand. Tatiana stiffened for a moment before setting her face into a mask of apathy and stone.

"It's no big deal, Raph," she told him in a dead tone. "It's nothing."

"You punching my older brother for the second time in less dan 24 hours is "nothing"?" he asked, sounding beyond shocked.

"How did you-?"

"I ain't blind, Tat. Now what'd you do ta Leo to get him so pissed at you dat ya had ta punch him?"

"Isn't the better question, "What'd Leo do to **me** to earn a second right hook from me?"

"Yer impossible sometimes, Tatiana. Ya know dat?"

"You still love me, regardless." Raph felt a blush tinge his cheeks, earning a chuckle from Tatiana. "What's this? Does big bad Raphael have a crush on little ole me?"

"Get over yerself, Lupe! I ain't no mushy-gushy freak! And I sure as Hell ain't in love with ya!"

"Oh really?!"

"Really." Raph drove on in silence as Tatiana sank back against her seat and allowed the wind whipping past them to fly through her loosened hair. Finally, they reached her apartment building. Raphael went first and secured the area before Tatiana climbed up and out of the manhole. They walked in silence to the corner of the building, but just as Raph was about to disappear, Tatiana seized his hand and drew him into the shadows with her.

"What da Hell-?! Are you crazy?!" Raph demanded.

"Prove it," Tatiana said to him.

"Prove what?" he inquired, narrowing his eyes beneath his red mask.

"Prove that you're not in love with me."

"What?! Tat, come on! Of all da stupid-!"

"What's the matter? Scared that I might be right?!"

"Hell no! I ain't scared of nothin' or nobody!"

"Then prove it!"

"Just tell me how!" Tatiana took a deep breath before she spoke the next words.

"Kiss me."

"WHAT?!"

"You heard me. Kiss me. Since you're not in love with me, then nothing will happen."

"Tat, I...I can't just kiss you!"

"I knew it! You **do** like me!"

"No! It's just...you might like me, and I don't want you ta get yer hopes up!"

"HA! You're funny, Raph! What makes you think that I like **you**?!"

"Other dan my obvious amazing looks, awesome ninja skills and seductive charm, I'm da best kinda guy dere is, Tat!"

"Wow! Do you and Leo suffer from the same ego problems or something?!"

"Nah. I'm just naturally gifted and he's just naturally cocky."

"Or maybe it's the other way around."

"Why you little-!" Raph lunged at her but Tatiana managed to dodge him, laughing as Raph turned and lunged at her again, missing. Then, his mouth turned into a smirk as he vanished into the shadows of the alley. Tatiana's senses were on full alert as she scanned the alley for moment. She thought someone was behind her and turned to see nothing. Then, as she heard the clatter of a can on the ground, she backed up a bit, fists up and ready to be used. Just then, something grabbed her around the waist and yanked her back into the shadows. Tatiana felt her back hit the stone wall and then felt lips on hers, rough and unyielding. His kiss was bruising and hot. She felt something ignite in her, but she managed to cool the flames of passion and prevent them from consuming her, from causing her to grab his face in her hands, to mould her body around his, to surrender to the unbridled will of passion. Then, just as quickly as they'd come, his lips were gone and Tatiana was left stunned and breathing hard as a smirking Raphael stood before her.

"Dere's yer kiss, Tat," he told her smugly. "And no. I didn't feel a thing. Did you?"

"No way," she answered, snorting. But deep down, Tatiana had never expected him to seriously take her on. And that was unnerving her more than that hot, rough kiss had.

"Well...uh...goodnight," Raph said, sounding a little unsure. Damn, her lips were soft and beautiful! But he couldn't let her see that he'd enjoyed fulfilling that dare or she'd get the wrong idea. And Raph didn't want to crush her foolish hopes when they still barely knew each other.

"Yeah. Goodnight," Tatiana told him as they parted ways in the shadows of the alley, unaware that other eyes had been watching them and their encounter since the manhole cover had been lifted.

"So little Lupe. Looks like you've got a giant turtle boyfriend," the man whispered, watching the girl head up the stairs of her apartment and then swung back to the large turtle wearing a red bandana over his eyes. He was standing in the shadows, but the man could still see him. He'd been trained to see in the dark, to strain his eyes to reveal his enemies in the cover of darkness. You needed to in order to survive.

The turtle seemed to waiting for something. The man's eyes went to Tatiana's window and sure enough, he saw her light flash on and off three times before she herself came to the window. She looked just like Penelope had. _And probably still just as sweet,_ the man thought to himself as he watched the young woman wave to the turtle, who, with a noticeable smirk on his face, waved back before jumping back into the manhole and disappearing from sight.

Tatiana was so distracted by what had happened that she failed to hear the sound of an engine gunning off into the New York City night, its driver's mind focusing on only one thing as he drove through the streets of his target's new home.

Revenge.

**Just so you are all aware: THAT WAS _NOT_ TATIANA AND RAPH'S FIRST KISS! I'm planning a much more appropriate, romantic first kiss for them much later in the story! This was only done to start the romantic tension between the two of them! So, there you have it folks! Another chapter done! I'll try not to take so long with the next chapter! Anyways, questions? Comments? Concerns? If not, reviews please and thank you very much! ****Cheers! :)**

**-Livangel16**


	4. Chapter 4

TMNT-The Sweetness of Love and Revenge

Summary: Tatiana Lupe is on the run from a Mexican drug cartel's assassination squad after her entire family is murdered in Laredo, Texas. She comes to New York City and meets the Turtles after being found half-dead in a street fight with the Purple Dragons. Tatiana has sworn to get revenge for the slaughter of her family, but when she falls in love with an unlikely character, she realizes that a blossoming friendship, a series of near-death experiences, and her desire for revenge could possibly destroy the life she's tried to rebuild. Leo/OC/Raph

**Hey everybody! I am SO SORRY for not updating this story for months! Life got really busy, and I haven't really been in a writing mood, but you know what? I sat down today and forced myself to write this chapter! Thanks to all my reviewers: grapejuice101, Kimmie98, Aster Sapphire, lazy4ever, my other Guest, IAmTheDragonEmpress, flamedragon242, Guest, ninja-warrior101, BubblyShell22, WolfAssassin369, kage kitsune 14, and zrexheartz! You guys are amazing! So, chapter four is nice, long and filled with drama, action and some suspense! Enjoy! :)**

**Disclaimer: I do not own TMNT! I wish I did, but they belong to Eastman and Laird! This plot and all O/Cs DO belong to me! (including Tatiana, Jacob, her family and her creepy boss...and any other characters that pop into my mind!)**

Chapter Four-Meeting Casey Jones, An Unwanted Reunion and The Man in the Shadows

Sundays were usually **not** a good day for Raphael. First of all, Mikey **always** woke him up because he cranked up the TV volume to "maximum, ear-splitting potential", as he put it, on _Halo_. Then, he and Leo would usually get into a fight about something or other. Then, Donny would jump in and try to quell the argument, but it would only escalate into a bigger fight. Then Master Splinter would come in and smack them all upside their heads with his walking stick for "disturbing his peace and quiet". Yep. Sundays were often a very bad day for the turtle known as Raphael.

But this Sunday was going to be different. This Sunday, Tatiana was going to be coming down to the Lair. And the thought of her being down here with him made Mikey's annoying antics slightly more bearable. But only **slightly**. He'd still earned his daily smack to the head, but it wasn't as hard as it usually was.

What was it about Tatiana that made Raph feel so...different? His temper wasn't as short when he was around her (except when Leo got on her case or his). And that was another thing. Usually he was suspicious of new people who came into their lives. So why was he suddenly so willing to trust Tatiana but Leo, the guy who'd trusted Shredder, his daughter and Lord knew how many people, was the one being suspicious and skeptical? Just then, his Shell-cell started ringing.

"Hello?" he answered.

"Stupid thing! I wanted to dial Donny!" growled a female voice that made Raph smile. "Bloody, damn technology!"

"And hello ta you too, Tat," he chuckled. He heard her gasp and chuckled again.

"Raph! Um...hey! What's up?"

"Nothing much. How about you?"

"N-N-Nothing really."

His smirk was plastered on his face as he laid down on his bed, one arm behind his head, the picture of confidence and cockiness. "You nervous or something Tat?"

"Me? Nervous?" She gave a shaky, little laugh. "Yeah right!"

"It's OK, ya know. I have dat kind of effect on da ladies. Once I kiss 'em, dey can't forget me!"

"Of course not! You're a six foot, muscular, mutant, ninja turtle armed with swords! it's kinda hard not to forget that!"

"Sais, Tat. They're called sais."

"Whatever. It's not like I think about the name of what kind of weapons you carry."

"So, you **have** been thinking about me!"

"In your dreams, Red!"

"Watch yer tongue, Girlie! I like having ya around too much to have ta deck ya!"

"If I can deck Leo, Raph, what makes you think I can't deck **you**?"

"You don't wanna fight **me**, Tatiana. Dat would be da biggest mistake of yer life."

"So...what's on the agenda for today?"

"There's someone I'd actually like ta introduce ya to. He's a good friend of mine. I think you two will get along."

"A "he"? Raph, I don't think..."

"Don't worry about it. His girlfriend is also our best friend. And if he dares ta say anything stupid, I'll clock him in da head. Unless you do da honors first."

"Alright. I've got some homework to finish here and a few errands to run, but I'll come by this evening and hang out with you guys, alright?"

"Yeah. But not too late. It's a school night."

"Yes Mom!"

"Hey. I just wanna make sure ya don't...ya know, fall asleep in class or something. I want you ta being kicking everyone's ass in school. 'Cause I know ya can, Tat. You ain't stupid. Far from it."

"Thanks Raph. I know you say you're not a teddy bear, but it's really...something to see a tough guy with a soft side."

"I ain't soft, Tat! Let's get dat straight!"

"You're impossible sometimes!"

He smirked at her frustration. "You still love me though, babe."

"**Don't** call me "babe"!"

"Alright. But you still love me."

"And you love me."

He snorted. "Sure Tat. Whatever helps you sleep at night."

She smirked and then put on a seductive tone to her voice. "Wouldn't you like to know what helps me sleep at night, Red!" She hung up the phone after that , pleasant shivers running down her spine. And not far away, in an underground room, Raph lay on his bed, the Shell-cell lying next to him, a pillow over his face as he groaned at how bloody, damn sexy Tatiana had sounded when she'd said that and the images that were running through his mind right then.

"Damn that woman! And damn me for not being able ta stop thinking about her!"

* * *

The black car sat beside the curb, watching the young woman walk into the bank and return a few minutes later with a sealed envelope. The man inside had watched her subtly, silently, like a unobtrusive shadow from the moment she'd left her apartment.

"Just as beautiful as her sister," he said aloud, watching her as she walked amongst the crowds of people, yet stood out from them, not because she was a Latina or a shade darker than most of the people on the sidewalk, but because she walked with her head held high, her hips swaying, her feet setting down hard and firm on the concrete with every step she took. Her confidence was the capstone of her beauty, the crowning achievement of everything that made Tatiana Lupe the young woman she was.

"It's such a damn shame that after tonight, I won't be seeing you ever again, my little Latina," the man whispered as he watched her retreating figure in his rearview mirror. "But I've got my orders. You won't get away unscathed a second time, Tatiana Lupe. And I'll make sure of that."

* * *

The Sewer Slider cruised into the Lair with a chuckling Raph and an almost-hysterical Tatiana, her hair looking windswept and her teeth slightly chattering. Mikey immediately hurried over like any good "knight" would.

"Hey Tat! What's shaking?" Mikey asked as he helped her out.

"Your brother's a maniac, Mikey!" Tatiana gasped as she threw her arms around him, unaware of the huge grin on the goofball's face as his arms came around her.

"Me? Tat, yer talking ta da maniac of da family!" Raph argued. Then, he noticed Mikey's arms around Tatiana's waist and subtly shot Mikey a death glare.

"Does Mikey drive at 80 miles per hour?" Tatiana demanded, looking at Raph and seeing what looked to be a jealous glint in his eyes.

"Actually Tati, I drive at 110 miles per hour on a good day," Mikey admitted, smiling proudly. Tatiana stared up at him and then broke away from him, striding to the center of the room.

"You're all nuts!" she shouted. Just then, the sound of a door opening came and she saw Leo poke his head out of it.

"Would you guys keep it down?!" he snapped, glaring at Tatiana. "Some of us are trying to meditate in peace and quiet!"

"Oh I'm sorry!" Tatiana snapped back sarcastically. "Next time your brother tries to kill me, I'll keep my utter terror to myself!"

"I doubt Raph tried to kill you Tatiana," Leo scoffed, rolling his eyes. "At least, not intentionally."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Raph and Tat snapped at the same time.

"It means that you're a lot more obvious than you think, bro," Leo replied, smirking at Raph before turning and going back into his room, slamming the door behind him.

"That guy **seriously** gets on my nerves!" Tatiana growled, clenching her fists.

"At least **you** ain't related to him," Raph reminded her as he placed his hand on the small of her back and steered her towards what looked like an elevator. The doors slid open and the two of them stepped inside. Tatiana was desperate to keep her mind off of how warm the heat of Raph's palm was on her back while Raph was struggling to keep his hand from sliding lower, from drawing her to him.

"Looks like my friend is here," Raph observed. Just then, a man with long, dark hair and blue eyes stepped out from behind an armored truck. He was wearing blue track pants and a red shirt. He was muscular, but she knew that Raph was way more buff than him and could take him on easily.

"Yo Raph! What's going-?!" the man began to ask, but he stopped short when he saw Tatiana standing behind the mutant turtle. "Whoa! Who's the chick?"

"Casey, dis is Tatiana Lupe, da girl I was telling ya about," Raph told him, pointing to Tatiana. "Tatiana, meet Casey Jones, my best friend and da biggest bonehead on da planet."

"Very funny man," Casey said, rolling his eyes as he and Tatiana shook hands. "So...yer da babe Raph was telling me about."

"If you wanna live to see another day, I suggest you **never** call me that again," Tatiana told him in a soft, deadly tone. Casey immediately pulled his hand away and looked at the smirking girl nervously. Raph chuckled.

"I think you two will get along just fine," Raph said, hiding a snicker. Then, his face became serious. "So, what's the 4-1-1?"

"Purple Dragons," Casey answered, and his eyes darkened. Another person who had something against the Purple Dragons. Tatiana was no fan of theirs either, but there was something about the hatred in Casey's eyes that made her think that it was a personal matter between this man and the notorious street gang. "They're busting up an electronics store on 125th Street."

"Dose suckers never learn," Raph said, pretending to sound annoyed, but the smile on his face told another story.

"I'll go get the others and meet you guys back up here," Tatiana said, turning to head for the elevator.

"Whoa Tat!" Raph exclaimed, grabbing her arm. "I dunno if that's such a good idea! I mean, ya fought against 'em once, but dose guys are ruthless thugs. They don't fight fair!"

"I was there, Raph. I know how they fight. Or did you think I forgot the part where they clobbered me with a metal pipe?!"

"Ya know Leo ain't gonna like dis one bit, right?"

"Leo needs to take out the stick shoved up his ass and learn that he can't always be some friggin' knight-in-shining-armor that saves a damsel who can't defend herself! I can fight if and when I need to, and if he's got a problem with that, then tough!"

Raph sighed and shook his head, smiling slightly. "I've got an extra pair of sais in my room. It's the one with the red door on the first floor close ta Mikey's room. They're under the bed."

Tatiana's face split into a smile. "You **seriously** mean it?!"

"Well, I figure dat you'd find a way ta come anyways, so...might as well ya go with us dan on yer own. As for Fearless, well...I'll deal with him if we cross dat bridge."

"You're incredible, Raphael!" She leaned in and gave him a swift, soft kiss on the cheek before dashing towards the elevator, her cheeks burning with excitement. Raph's hand drifted to the cheek she'd just kissed, his face flushed with a blush and the cheesiest grin on his face.

"Smooth, Raph!" Casey chuckled, patting his friend on the shell. "Velvety smooth!"

"Shut it Jones!" Raph snapped, turning around to face his best friend. But he wasn't as angry as he should've been. And what was worse was that Casey knew it.

"I gotta hand it to ya, Raph. She's a fine-looking one. Curves and everything. Ya sure know how ta pick 'em."

"And if ya know what's good for ya, you'll know how ta keep yer hands to yourself."

"Hey. I got April. I don't need anything or anyone else."

Raph snorted a laugh. "You're a classic, Jones. A real romantic."

"Well, I hate to brag, but..." he began flexing his muscles and trying to look impressive, "the Jones men do have a reputation for being hopeless romantics that make women swoon."

"Yer hopeless, that's for sure," Raph snickered and Casey rolled his eyes.

"But seriously though, Raph. Telling her that she could come just so she wouldn't go off on ya was a smart move."

"I meant what I said, Jones. She's coming with us." Casey's face immediately became serious.

"But Raph, she's...she's a...and you're a..." Casey stammered, but Raph cut him off with a glare.

"Yer startin' ta sound like Leo!" Raph grumbled. "She may be a girl, Case, but she can fight! And I don't care what Fearless thinks or what he says! She's coming with us! She can watch her back, and if she can't, then I'll watch it for her!"

"Da Purple Dragons ain't a walk in the park for an untrained warrior, Raph," Casey reminded him. "It's dangerous."

"I know, Case. But you know what? Given the right incentive and the right amount of space to do her thing, so is she."

* * *

"Now remember the plan," the man said to the Purple Dragons as the notorious street thugs filled their sacks with precious loot. "Make sure it's an easy fight for them to win, but not so easy that they start getting suspicious. I want them to be so sure of themselves that they don't even see me coming."

"Fine. But why do **you** get the chance ta get rid of the freaks?" one of the Dragons complained.

"I don't have to explain my business to lowlifes like you!" the man snorted, rolling his eyes.

"Well, ya have ta explain it to da boss!" the Dragon reminded him.

"I did, and I gave him the exact same answer that I'm giving you!" the man snapped. The Dragon immediately backed off, the others looking unsure of whether to attack this man or just leave him be. He'd mysteriously shown up at their headquarters, demanding to meet with their Boss, and after taking out at least fifteen of the guards, Hun had met with him, and the two of them had reached some sort of deal regarding the freaks and that sweet Latina they'd tried to gangbang the other night.

"But if you pathetic lowlifes really **must **know, it's because **I** need something from them. Or rather, some**one**," the man answered, smiling coldly. "But don't worry. I'll leave enough of the freaks for you to make some piñatas or punching bags or something." Cold smiles and laughs filled the air of the electronics store as the Purple Dragons continued to stuff the valuables into their sacks and the man in the shadows continued to plan out exactly how he was going to kill the four, mutant freaks and the Latina girl he'd been searching for.

* * *

"There they are," Raph whispered to the others as they stood on the rooftop across from the damaged store. "Just like Casey said."

"So what do we do?" Mikey asked.

"Basic lightning attacks," Leo replied, studying the thugs who were heading into an alleyway with sacks of stolen loot. "Hit 'em hard and fast, then become shadows and attack again."

"We get in, we get out," Don continued. "Nobody gets hurt." Everyone stared at him, and he blushed. "Well...**somebody** gets hurt. Just not one of us."

"Hopefully," Leo added, sending a pointed glare at Tatiana.

"This isn't the sixteenth century, Leonardo, FYI!" Tatiana snapped. "Women can fight. You're just so used to rescuing them that you've become a misogynistic prick!"

"Ouch! I didn't even understand what she just said, and even **I ** know **that** was insulting!" Mikey said, grimacing.

"Enough talk!" Raph told them, crossing his sais. "Let's take out some dragons!" They all nodded and then leapt down from the rooftops and landed in the alley.

"It's da freaks!"

"You creeps have robbed your last store!" Leo told him, drawing out his katanas.

"Yeah. 'Cause we're gonna put you out of business! **Permanently**!" Raph added, his sais twinkling deadly in the faint light of the moonlight.

"Get 'em!" someone shouted, and the Purple Dragons all converged and headed towards the Turtles and Tatiana.

It was her first time fighting with sais, and Tatiana, though she ducked a lot, wasn't as proficient with them as she would've liked. Nevertheless, her kicks and punches were still as strong as ever and many of the Purple Dragons were kissing gravel when she got his fist or foot on them. She'd just floored one of them when she turned and saw Mikey, battling hard with his nunchucks and surrounded by several Purple Dragons. He was so busy battling them that he didn't notice one of them sneaking up behind him, metal pipe raised and looking to smash hard into the goofball's head. _Not my little brother, you bastard! _Tatiana thought to herself as her right hand clutched tightly around the blade of the sai.

"Mikey! Duck!" she yelled as she threw the sai with every ounce of strength in her body. It sailed through the air, the blade missing the goofball turtle and striking the Purple Dragon behind him square in the chest. There was a gasp, something clattering to the ground (like a metal pipe) and then a loud _THUMP!_ as the body thudded to the ground. Time seemed to stop as Tatiana stared in horror at the body of the Purple Dragon. Mikey had knocked down the other three, but was now studying Tatiana with a shocked expression. She turned and saw Leo's eyes scrutinizing her closely, suspicion and distrust radiating from his gaze like sunbeams. Raph looked like his eyes were about to pop of their sockets, and Don was looking politely bemused.

Then, time unfroze and the battle recommenced. Tatiana fought as hard as she could, and she found that the more determined she was to prove her worth to the Turtles, the better focused she was, and the more powerful her attacks got. Finally, the last of the Dragons was on the ground. Then, one by one, they all ran yelling and screaming from the alleyway and into the deserted streets of Brooklyn.

"Dis ain't over freaks!" a Purple Dragon with a mohawk (different from the one who'd tried to rape Tatiana two nights ago) shouted before taking off with the rest of his defeated crew.

"Alright! Turtles and Lupe-1, Purple Chickens-zip!" Tatiana crowed. Raph chuckled as he and Mikey both gave her high-fives. Tatiana felt a knot in her stomach loosen. Maybe they'd forgotten about her first kill already. She turned and saw Leo was still glaring at her. _Then again, maybe not,_ she thought to herself.

"Well...that was easier than I anticipated," Don observed as he twirled his bo staff before sheathing it.

"A little too easy," Leo remarked suspiciously as he slowly sheathed his katanas in their holders on his shell.

"That's because the challenge hasn't even begun, freaks," a deep voice said. Everyone turned and saw a man masked dressed completely in black from head to toe. Even his face, save for his eyes, was blacked out, probably by a ski mask or a hood.

"Who are you?" Leo demanded, whipping back out his katanas and pointing one of them at the mysterious figure.

"Your doom," the man answered, smiling evilly. "Say goodbye to each other, freaks, while you still can. It'll be the last thing you'll ever say."

"Oh yeah?! Well...you're the one who should be saying goodbye to...uh...to yourself!" Mikey shot back.

"Seriously?! Where do you come up with these lame lines?!" Raph groaned, rolling his eyes.

"Hey! I'm under a lot of pressure here!" Mikey protested, taking out his nunchucks.

"Now there's a line we've heard before," Don muttered as he whipped out his bo staff.

"Attack!" Leo shouted and all four Turtles leapt forward, but the man simply seemed to melt into the shadows, disappearing from view before they come even come near him. The Turtles hurried forward with Tatiana close behind them, Raph's sais gripped tightly in her hands.

"Where'd he go?" Tatiana asked, looking around frantically for the mysterious figure.

"Spread out and search the alley," Leo commanded, gripping his sword handles tighter. "He can't have gotten far."

The others nodded and split off from Leo and Tatiana. Rolling her eyes at her misfortune, Tatiana continued down the alley towards what looked to be a dead end. Leo stopped and turned towards a set of fire escapes that seemed to stretch on into infinity. _This guy's just like a shadow,_ Tatiana thought to herself._ You can't see him until he..._Her heart stopped beating. It...it couldn't be. Not **him**. No. It just couldn't. Just then, she saw a flash of movement in the shadows, and in the darkness, she saw the gleam of a silver revolver pointed straight at Leo's heart. She saw the figure's determination and could make out his finger on the trigger, pulling it slowly, Leo blissfully unaware of the bull's eye target he was wearing.

"Leo! Watch out!" Tatiana shouted, tackling him to the ground as the shot rang out. A sharp pain erupted in Tatiana's left shoulder as they crashed to the dirty floor of the alley. Leo landed on his shell and Tatiana face-down on his plastron, the hardness of it causing her to black out.

"Tatiana? Tatiana?!" Leo shouted, shaking her shoulders. His blood turned to ice when he heard no reply and he felt something wet on his plastron. He gently rolled her off of him and scooped her into his arms. Another shot rang out, ricocheting off of the bricks above his head. Leo, cradling Tatiana in his arms, ducked behind a metal dumpster for cover as another shot rang out, the bullet ricocheting off of the metal edge. Leo leaned back slightly against the dumpster and looked down at the unconscious Latina in his arms.

Her face looked so peaceful, so innocent. He brushed a strand of her dark hair out of her face, his fingers gently touching the skin. It was soft to the touch and smooth as silk. Why did such an irritating human being have to have the features of a goddess? _Chill out, Leonardo! _he scolded himself in his head. _This is the same girl who punched you twice in the face. If she knew what you were thinking, she'd make it three in a row! Besides, something about this girl still just doesn't feel right._

"Leo! You OK?!" Raph shouted as he seemed to appear out of nowhere. Then, he saw Tatiana lying motionless in Leo's arms and blew up. "What happened?!"

"Tatiana...she...she saved my life," Leo told him. Raph's eyes widened with shock and then he pointed to Leo's plastron.

"Ya got blood on ya!" Raph yelled in horror.

"It's all hers," Leo replied as he and Raph ducked as another gunshot was fired in their direction. "She took a bullet for me and got knocked out when she landed on my plastron." Raph growled, his eyes narrowed. He wanted to fly into the hail of bullets and take out the creep who'd done this to her, but he knew that would do more harm than good. And right now, Tatiana needed medical attention, not another medical emergency.

"Den we gotta get outta here!" Raph told him. If Leo was surprised with his brother's rationality, he didn't show it. He simply nodded and crept backwards into the shadows with the young woman in his arms.

"Mikey! Donny!" Leo shouted to his other brothers. "Fall back! Rooftops now!"

"Got it, Chief!" Don replied, dodging another bullet. Mikey was perched on the fire escape in the shadow, nunchucks in his hands and then came in hard and fast, swiping at the figure's arm. The figure stumbled back and hissed in pain as the nunchuck had sliced into the shoulder of his shirt, cutting into the skin. Mikey immediately melted into the shadows and followed his brothers onto the rooftop away from the alley. His heart seized in his chest when he saw Tatiana lying unconscious in Leo's arms. He pushed out the thought of it being Leo holding her when he was so suspicious of her and focused on the fact that the young Latina who he was very fond of was unconscious and...bleeding.

"What happened to Tat?!" Mikey shouted.

"She took a bullet for me," Leo explained, looking down at the girl, confusion etched all over his face. They'd been at one another's throats since the day they'd met. She'd punched him twice in the face. He'd held her arms behind her back. Why would she have taken a bullet for someone she hated? And more importantly, why did he care so much that she had?

"Are **you** OK?" Don asked, his eyes fixed on the blood on his oldest brother's plastron. Don's question snapped Leo out of his thoughts.

"Yeah. I'm fine. The blood's all hers," he answered.

"Den let's get back to da Lair and get Tat sorted out," Raph said, walking towards the edge of the rooftop.

"Mikey. What's that on your nunchuck?" Don inquired, pointing at a scrap of black cloth. Raph stopped in his tracks and walked back towards his brothers. Mikey immediately detached it from his weapon and held it out. It was black and had a white picture of what looked like a skeleton wearing a wedding veil with the letters LCM written in white beneath it.

"It's a piece of black cloth," Leo said after studying it.

"Must've come from that guy's shirt," Mikey told them. Then, he saw the skeleton bride and the three, white letters. "What do ya think it means?"

"The corpse bride or the letters?" Don asked. Mikey was about to say something else, but Raph cut in.

"Let's figure dat out later! Right now, we need to get back to da Lair and see ta Tat!" Raph argued, striding to the other side of the building.

"He's right. Let's move," Leo agreed, hurrying across the rooftop and leaping across to the next one. His brothers followed behind like his shadows, their pace fast and furious.

* * *

"Bring her to my lab, Leo," Don told him as they entered the Lair. "I'll need to do a complete diagnosis before I start taking care of that wound."

"Sure thing, Donny," Leo answered, shifting his weight slightly as he adjusted his hold on Tatiana. He looked at Raph and Mikey. "You two gonna be alright out here alone?"

"Yeah Mom! We'll be fine!" Raph replied sarcastically, rolling his eyes. Leo rolled his as well and shook his head.

"Mikey. Make sure he doesn't go busting heads," Leo told his youngest brother before he and Don headed for the genius turtle's lab.

"Wait! But who's gonna keep him from busting mine?!" Mikey shouted in panic. Normally, Raph would've grinned and cracked his knuckles or something to scare Mikey, but now, with Tatiana bleeding out from a bullet wound, tormenting Mikey was the furthest thing from his mind.

"Relax Lamebrain," Raph told him. "I ain't in da mood ta torture you today." Mikey looked confused, but grateful. What was that saying? Never look a gift horse in the mouth? Well, Mikey certainly wasn't about to do that. This kind of mercy only came around as much as a lunar eclipse (whatever the heck that was. He'd heard Donny mention it once or twice).

Raph sat down in his armchair and watched as Mikey played his video games, but one eye was always glued to the metal door of Donatello's lab. It seemed like hours had passed before the movement of the door caught Raph's attention and caused him to leap to his feet.

"So what's da diagnosis, Brainiac?" Raph asked as Don stood in front of them.

"The bullet missed her left lung by an inch and a half," Don answered. "Luckily, it went through her shoulder completely and didn't hit any major organs, arteries or veins. No muscle damage. But she does have a mild concussion from hitting her head on Leo's plastron coupled with her still-healing injury from her night with the Purple Dragons. But she's not in any imminent danger. I think she'll make a full recovery."

"Thank goodness," Raph breathed, looking visibly calmer. Knowing that Tatiana wasn't in danger of... well...of her condition worsening made Raph feel a whole lot better.

"Yeah. But who the shell **was** that guy?" Mikey asked. Raph's temper immediately flared up like a newly-lit flame. His calm moment was over in an instant.

"I dunno. But whoever he was, he's gonna pay for dis **big time**!" Raph growled, smacking his fist into his hand hard. "No one takes shots at us and gets away still breathin'!"

"You sure it was just because he shot at **us**, Raph?" Don asked, smirking slightly. Mikey looked confused, but Raph immediately hid his blush and glared at his younger brother.

"I ain't got any idea what yer babblin' about, Donny!" he growled, crossing his arms over his plastron.

"On the contrary, o dear brother of mine," Don replied, his smirk still plastered on his face. "I think you know **exactly** what I'm talking about. Or should I say **who**!" With that, Don walked back into the lab to check up on Tatiana, Raph's eyes following him all the way to the metal door.

"Wait a second," Mikey said, looking slowly from Raph to the lab. "You? That guy? Tat?" Then, a broad smile found its way onto Mikey's face. "You **like** her!"

"Shut yer trap, Mikey! Ya don't know what yer talking about!" Raph snapped.

"Raphie likes Tati! Raphie likes Tati!" Mikey sang, dancing around Raphael. Raph growled and then launched himself at Mikey, who dodged it cleanly, sending Raph crashing to the floor. Mikey cackled and began chanting again. "Raphie likes Tati! Raphie likes Tati! Raphie likes Tati!"

"You are **so** dead, Laughing Boy!" Raph snapped, leaping at Mikey from his knees and tackling him to the ground. Mikey screamed as his hotheaded, older brother began wailing on him, fists flying in a rapid fury that was almost blinding. Fortunately for Mikey, Leo had just come out of Master Splinter's room and saw his youngest brother desperately trying to dodge Raph's furious punches.

"Raph! Cut it out!" Leo growled, leaping into the fight and trying to drag Raph off of their youngest brother. But experience told Leo that this was not going to be an easy thing to accomplish.

"Lemme go, Leo! Right NOW!" Raph snarled as his fists pummeled into Mikey hard. Or at least, they tried to, but were partially blocked by Leo. "I'm gonna pound his sorry shell into the ground so hard, he'll...!"

"ENOUGH!" Everyone froze as Sensei came towards them, his walking stick in hand. "What is the meaning of all this?!"

"Sensei...I...we..." Leo stammered as they all disentangled themselves and stood up. "We were... just ... uh..."

"Mikey said something, and I took it da wrong way, Sensei," Raph jumped in, shocking both of his brothers. "I guess my worrying about Tatiana made my temper...a little less...manageable."

"Wow. I'd never thought I'd see the day where the words "Raph" and "worried" were in the same sentence," Mikey whispered to Leo, who nodded but both kept their mouths shut when Raph glared at them.

"Hey guys! She's coming to!" Don yelled from the door of his lab. Raph hurried past Master Splinter , Leo and  
Mikey hot on his heels. Donny barely had any time to back up from the door, causing Raph and the others to crash into him while trying to squeeze past one another, all of them tumbling loudly to the floor in a giant, mutant turtle heap.

"Careful with the racket, guys," Tatiana told them, holding her head in her hands. "I've got a really bad headache."

"Sorry Tati," Mikey apologized as they got up off the ground and came around the small bed in the center of the room. "Do you want me to get you an ice pack or something?"

"That's OK, Mikey. Donny gave me some painkillers not too long ago. I'm alright," she replied, smiling slightly. Then, she turned to Donatello. "I didn't know you were such a good doctor, Donny. But then again, a genius like you probably knows more than the average human doctor."

"Well...I...I...I know a...a few things," Don stammered, blushing and rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "But I...I wouldn't say that I'm...that you should...that we..." Raph quickly put a hand over Don's mouth, cutting off his rambling. Don stopped talking and looked pointedly at Raph, who dropped his hand from his younger brother's mouth.

"Thanks," he whispered.

"Dat's my job," Raph replied, smirking slightly and causing Don to roll his eyes. Tatiana hid a snicker behind her hand. Sometimes, Donny's nervous was so adorable, it was amusing. Then her face became serious once more.

"Did you...did you guys... get him?" she asked tentatively.

"Nah. We got a piece of him, but I ain't gonna rest until he's** in** pieces Tat! I swear!" Raph told her, his fist clenching the black cloth. It was then that Tatiana noticed the skeleton bride and the letters LCM underneath it. Her face turned chalk-white. Her blood turned to ice in her veins. And her heart raced faster than a beating drum.

"Get that away from me!" she screamed, scrambling backwards away from Raph and the marked piece of cloth. She shut out the burning pain of her wounded shoulder as she crawled away from the mark, the symbol that'd cost her everything that mattered in her life. Her mind was paralyzed with fear, and she didn't even notice herself reach the edge of the bed until she tumbled off of it. But a pair of green arms caught her before she landed on the cold, hard floor.

"You OK?" She knew the voice, knew its owner, but she still couldn't believe that he'd done something like this for her.

"Yeah, Leo. Thanks." He nodded and for once, he didn't look as though he wanted to kill her. Straightening up, he carried her back over to the side of the bed where Don and the others stood. When she saw the cloth again with the mark, her arms tightened their grip around Leo's neck and pulled her closer to his body, as if her body and mind thought that the same turtle who'd been on her back from day one would somehow protect her. Her wound burned with red-hot pain, but she gritted her teeth and toughed it out.

Leo himself was confused. One minute, he and Tatiana were at each other's throats and the next, she was clinging to him as he held her in his arms. And he couldn't explain why he drew her closer to him when he felt her arms tighten around his neck. Maybe it had to do with the sudden urge he felt to protect her from that mysterious man, from everything that symbol on the cloth stood for. He placed her down gently on the edge of the bed and stepped back to allow Don to get back to cleansing and bandaging up her wound. Then, his momentary pity vanished. He saw her eyes and knew that she knew exactly who that man in the alley was; probably even what he was doing here. His blood boiled, and his rage was about to spill out if she dared to speak.

"You alright, Tat?" Raph asked.

"Yeah, Raph. I'm fine."

"Then what was up with you and that symbol?" Don inquired as he wrapped the gauze tightly around her shoulder. "It looked like you recognized it."

"I...I don't know why I acted like that, Donny. I've never seen that symbol before in my life."

"Bullshit." Every pair of eyes in the room flew and landed on Leo, who stood there leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his plastron.

"Uh-oh. When _Leo _curses, you _know_ stuff's gonna hit the fan!" Mikey muttered to Don.

"No doubt about it!" Don agreed as the two brothers watched Leo glare harshly at Tatiana. Part of Tatiana wanted to confess everything, but her pride told her that they'd pity her, despise her and not want anything to do with her if they found out about her past. And now with that man back in her life, she couldn't risk being alone, though she hated to admit it.

"Look. I said it was nothing, and...!" she began to say, but Leo wasn't about to let her lie to them again.

"And you're obviously lying!" Leo snapped. "First, we run into the Purple Dragons again, which usually _doesn't_ happen in 24 hours. Then some mysterious assassin shows up and nearly kills us all! And then when we get a piece of him, you start acting like you've seen the freakin' devil or something!"

"Leo, calm down! It's not what you think!" Tatiana protested.

"It's not what I think?!" Leo scoffed. "On the contrary, it's _more_ than what I think! I knew there was something about you that was off, something that didn't sit right! And now I know!"

"You don't know **anything**!" Tatiana growled, wishing that her shoulder wasn't hurting her this badly. Otherwise, Leo would've gotten a good sock to the face that would've made him seriously regret ever uttering those words to her.

"I know enough! A girl with no ninja skills can throw a sai with deadly aim?! Walks the streets of a big city alone at night?!"

"Let's not forget punches out arrogant, paranoid, mutant ninja turtles!" Raph added, glaring at Leo. Leo whipped around and glared at Raph. Tatiana felt herself shrink back a little. If looks could kill, Raph would've been dead seven times over under the look Leo was giving him.

"You're_ defending_ her?!" Leo demanded angrily, jabbing a green finger at Tatiana. "She's trying to do us all in, and you're taking _her_ side?!"

"Last time I checked, she was fighting _with _us, not against us!" Raph snapped. "And I also clearly remember that she took a bullet for **you** and saved your sorry shell!"

"It's all a part of her act!" Leo shouted. "And you three are being blinded by it!"

"And you're seen things dat ain't even dere!" Raph countered fiercely. "Look. I don't know what yer issue is with Tat, but...!"

"My "issue" as you so delicately put it, is that this girl's trying to kill us all, and you're so busy flirting with her and showing off to her and Casey that you can't even recognize danger when it's right in front of you!" Leo snarled.

"Why I oughta...!" Raph growled, whipping out his sais and twirling them in his hands in that lethal fashion that Tatiana had seen in the alley.

"Her whole family's probably in on this!" Leo continued. "Her father's probably some gangster, and if she's got a brother, he's probably in there too!"

"Shut up about my family, Hamato!" Tatiana growled. Leo turned and looked at her that, if it were anyone else but her, would've made them feel two inches tall. But Tatiana wasn't about to let this hotheaded, arrogant turtle insult her family right in front of her.

"Why?!" he demanded. "That's it, isn't it?! Your family's working for Hun and the Shredder, and...!"

"MY FAMILY'S DEAD!" she screamed at him. Deathly silence filled the room as every jaw dropped. Leo's anger immediately dissipated like a flame that'd had water poured onto it. He saw the hot tears pouring down her cheeks and immediately felt like the world's biggest bastard. Here he was, insulting her family, belittling them to petty criminals who worked for their arch-enemies when all this time, Tatiana just hadn't wanted them to know that she was an orphan; that her family was gone, and she was all alone in the world.

"Tati, we...we didn't know," Donny whispered, placing a gentle hand on her uninjured shoulder. "We're sorry."

His pity stung worse than her wound as she realized that her worst fears were coming true. They were pitying her because she was an orphan, because she didn't having a loving family. And seeing those looks brought back the memories of their funerals:

_Tatiana stood in the cemetery, her black dress a lone beacon of sorrow and mourning amongst the chipped and cracking headstones. She'd told Victims' Services (the people paying for it) to make the service short and to the point. And that they should do it in the cemetery. The woman in charge had at first thought she was crazy, but the Federal Marshal who'd been dispatched with a team within hours of her family's deaths, had backed her up, saying that holding it in a church would be too public, that Tatiana would be in greater danger. _

_And now they were here. Her, the woman from Victims' Services, Federal Marshal Nathan McDowell, and Father Roberto Gutierrez._

_ Father Gutierrez stood at the foot of the four graves, the fresh piles of earth stacked beside them. In Spanish, he said a prayer for the salvation of their souls and a blessing upon the remaining members of the family. Tatiana felt her lips tighten when she heard him say those words. They were a reminder that she alone was left; that she was the sole survivor of this great tragedy. _

_Then, Father Gutierrez spoke one, final prayer in Latin and crossed himself three times. Tatiana mimed his motions, her heart feeling so distant from God that she felt worse than an infidel. _

_She'd knelt down before the graves, studying what she'd told the people to carve into the headstones of each of her family's headstones. She reached out and touched the first one; her mother's._

**_Here lies Margarita Yolanda Lupe_**

**_Sunrise: November 14, 1973_**

**_Sunset: July 3, 2005_**

**_Beloved Wife, Daughter, and Mother_**

**_Favorite Quote: If I don't make it to glory, then have double the fun for me._**

_Tatiana smiled, the tears pooling in her eyes as she thought of her mother, the religious fanatic; the one who'd always woken them up on Sunday morning to go to church. Despite her strict, moral codes and customs, she'd been a stubborn person to deal with and a fierce Latina when she had to be._

_Tatiana turned to the next grave and placed her hand atop the crest of the tombstone. Her father._

**_Here lies Alejandro Pablo Lupe_**

**_Sunrise: February 9, 1967_**

**_Sunset: July 3, 2005_**

**_Beloved Husband, Son and Father_**

**_Favorite Car: Jaguar. The fiercest cat in the wild. Like me._**

_The next headstone brought the tears a little closer to the surface when she touched it._

**_Here lies Jorge Emanuel Lupe_**

**_Sunrise: March 17, 1987_**

**_Sunset: July 3, 2005_**

**_Beloved Son and Brother_**

**_Favorite Food: Food is food. As long as I don't upchuck afterwards, I'll eat it._**

_Tatiana sniffled and felt a tear running down her cheek as she smiled through her sadness. Jorge would've kicked her three days into next week for being sad and weeping at his graveside. Then, she placed her hand on the last tombstone. _

**_Here lies Penelope Alexandra Lupe_**

**_Sunrise: June 29, 1990_**

**_Sunset: July 3, 2005_**

**_Beloved Daughter and Sister_**

**_Favorite Hobby: The arts. Deception, seduction. You get the drill. I'm the darker side of Picasso._**

_Tatiana didn't feel the same cold, finality that she had with the other three members of her family. Somehow, a part of her was telling her that Penelope wasn't dead, but she knew she was; she'd seen the body herself. And that above all was what sent her over the edge, but somehow, Tatiana Lupe sat on her knees in the cemetery while the grave-diggers buried her family under a heap of earth, one by one, cutting them off from her and sealing them in the ground forever. And shed not a single tear._

"Tat?! Tat?!"

She heard the voice and immediately snapped out of her memories to see four, concerned faces (yes. Even Leo looked concerned about her) staring at her. She quickly bowed her head to hide the oncoming tears as the onslaught of buried emotions came crashing back over her.

"I...I have to go! I shouldn't have come back here!" she told them, jumping off of the bed and ignoring the burning pain in her shoulder. She pushed past Mikey and Don, completely avoiding Leo as though he was some sort of contagious disease.

"Tat! Wait!" Raph told her, grabbing her uninjured arm and swinging her around to face him. She saw it before he could hide it: the pity. She didn't want it. She was tired of it; tired of people feeling sorry for her, for wanting to help. Where were they when she'd needed them? When **her family** had needed them? These people didn't give a damn about anyone but themselves. And Leo had proved that to her the minute she'd woken up. Even Raph. She felt her heart stinging a little at the thought of his concern not being genuine, but she managed to shove down those emotions for the moment.

"Just leave me alone, guys! I...I can't deal with this right now!" Tatiana wrenched her arm out of Raph's grasp and hurried out of the lab. No one made a move to stop her as the heavy, metal door slammed shut, slicing through the heart of all four mutants in the room. The hotheaded turtle rounded savagely on his older brother. His fist smashed into Leo's face, sending the eldest of the four to the floor hard. The other two were shocked to say the least, but somehow, not as much as they should've been. And, if they were completely honest with themselves, Leo had had this coming for a while, especially from Raph.

"Nice job, Fearless!" Raph snapped angrily before racing out after Tatiana. Leo hadn't even attempted to defend himself from either Raph's anger or the punch to the face. How could he after how wrong he'd been about her? After how he'd insulted her dead family? Defending himself would be like saying that he did nothing wrong. And he had; he'd done something horribly wrong.

"Ya **really** blew it **this** time, Leo!" Mikey seconded, glaring at his brother before he followed out after Raph. Mikey's resentment stung worse than Raph's hit, the pain of that making the wound in Leo's heart ache even more. Only Donatello remained, and his eyes looked thoroughly sad and disappointed when they met with his eldest brother's.

"I...I didn't know," Leo stammered, looking down at the floor. "I...I didn't think...she just...and we...I...I just wanted to protect us. I thought she was-"

"You were right to be cautious, Leo. Not **paranoid**," Don cut in firmly. "What's with you lately? Ever since that last fight we had with the Foot, you've just..."

"I don't wanna talk about that, Donny," Leo replied, looking up at his brother. Don just nodded silently. Leo sighed and got up slowly. "How do I make this right?"

"An apology would be a good place to start," Don suggested. "That is, if she doesn't punch you in the face for the third time in less than almost 48 hours."

"Yeah. I...Hey! How'd you know that she-?!"

"Mikey told me."

Leo groaned and rolled his eyes. "Of course."

"C'mon. We need to catch her before she leaves the Lair. I'm not one for letting the sun go down on anybody's wrath. Especially not a Latina like Tatiana!"

* * *

Tatiana was hurrying away with Raph calling her name not far from behind her when she bumped into something, sending her tumbling to the floor and her wound stinging with red-hot pain.

"Forgive me, my child," a kind voice told her, a paw extended in front of her. "I did not see you." She took the hand and allowed him to help her up (secretly surprised that an elderly rat had so much upper body strength). But the paw felt so warm, so caring, so fatherly, that Tatiana's wave-like emotions were now drowning her. And when she looked into his warm, brown eyes, she couldn't stop the words from tumbling out.

"Master Splinter, it's...I...Leo...the guys...my family...me...I..." she stammered before she completely broke down and burst into tears. Gentle arms encircled her and she surrendered, allowing them to wrap around her, draw her close, comfort her as she sobbed hard and long, the pain and grief she had borne for so long now gushing forth like water from a dam.

"It is alright, my child," Master Splinter whispered to her soothingly, patting her back gently as she sobbed into the fur that poked through the throat of his robe. "It is alright."

"Master Splinter!" Raph shouted, hurrying up close to the rat with Mikey in tow. He stopped short when he saw a sobbing Tatiana in his Sensei's arms. And for a moment, he wished it was **him** Tatiana was crying on, but now wasn't the time to be thinking like that.

"Michelangelo. Please make some tea for Miss Lupe," Master Splinter instructed as he guided Tatiana towards the living room and onto the couch. Raph followed behind them like a shadow. Master Splinter sat down beside her and held her hand in his paw while she cried into his shoulder. His other hand patted her back gently, sometimes rubbing soothing circles.

"Raph. Is she OK?" Don asked, coming into the living room with Leo in tow. His eyes then found the young woman sobbing on his rat master's shoulder on the couch. Raph's face was grim.

"Dat answer yer question, Einstein?" Raph asked pointedly. Then, he noticed Leo standing behind Don, and his temper snapped. "YOU!" he snarled, launching himself at Leo only to held back by Don. Leo didn't move from his spot, didn't even flinch as Raph snarled and snapped and tried to break free to pound him. "You got SOME nerve showing yer face!"

"Calm down, Raph," Leo told him in a serious tone.

"Calm down? **Calm down**?! It's **yer** fault dis whole thing started! You and yer paranoia! She took a bullet for you; she saved your life. Does she have ta **die** before you realize dat she's **not** the enemy?!"

"Raphael!" Master Splinter snapped, his tone intending to end the argument right there and then before it got too out of hand or worse: escalated into an all-out brawl.

"No Sensei," Leo told him. "Let him speak." Master Splinter looked taken aback and then nodded firmly.

"Insulting her family like dat was a step too far, Leo!" Raph growled. "Ya crossed da line when ya did dat! How dare ya go off on her like dat, especially considering dat it could've been **you** dead in dat alleyway!"

"I know. And I'm sorry for what I said, Tatiana," Leo said, looking at the young woman, who was sniffling but nodded and looked at him, her red eyes raw with sadness and grief; sadness and grief that he had opened with his thoughtlessness. "I really am. It's just...you looked and acted like you knew who that guy was, and I guess I just..."

"And nothing!" Raph jumped in, shoving Don aside and poking his finger into Leo's plastron. "She was freaked out because some random assassin was trying ta take us all out! Again, yer letting yer paranoia call da shots! But if you say one more thing dat makes her start bawling her eyes out, I swear that I'll...!"

"Raph! That's enough!" Tatiana said firmly. Everyone turned and looked at her as Mikey came in at that moment with a steaming cup of mint tea in his hands.

"Here Tati," he told her kindly. She smiled and took the cup from him before blowing on it and taking a small sip. The tea felt warm, nice, soothing; it felt like she was swallowing a rejuvenating liquid.

"How are ya feeling?" Mikey asked her, sitting beside her on the other side of the couch.

"A lot better," she admitted. "Thanks to Master Splinter and this tea. You're a sweetheart, Mikey."

"Aw! I'd do anything for you, Tati! You know that!" he replied, blushing and smiling at her.

"Way to lay it on thick, Mikey!" Leo groaned, rolling his eyes.

"I think I'm gonna puke!" Raph growled, crossing his arms over his plastron. Mikey turned to his older brothers and smirked at them.

"That shade of green doesn't really suit either of you, ya know," he chuckled. Don snickered behind his hand and Master Splinter simply smiled but said nothing. Leo rolled his eyes and Raph grumbled something about getting Mikey while he was asleep. Tatiana was completely confused but she'd get Raph to explain it to her later. Right now, she took another sip of her mint tea and came to a decision.

"Guys. There's something I have to tell you."

"What?!" Leo asked, sounding a little too eager to know what she'd been hiding from them.

"Watch yer tongue, Fearless!" Raph warned, brandishing his fist. "Or else I'll deck ya here and now!"

"Sorry Raph. You'll have to get in line behind me," Tatiana told him, looking at Leo with a serious look on her face. "I've got first dibs on decking him if he steps out of line."

"On second thought, he's all yers, Tat," Raph said, smirking as he fondly remembered the two times Leo's beak had been smashed by Tatiana's iron fist. "Just call me if ya need backup or anything."

"I'll call you when it's your turn to take a shot at him," Tatiana replied, throwing him a smirk that meant more than it should've. Raph smiled.

"I think I'm gonna like having her around," he chuckled.

"Alright. Enough talk about fists and my face," Leo told them as the rest of the Turtles settled themselves comfortably and close enough to hear what Tatiana was going to tell them. "Now, Tatiana. Tell us whatever you feel is important for us to know, and I'll try my very best not to judge you." Raph and Mikey glared at him while Don just stared like he was insane or something. "What?!" Leo asked, shrugging. "I said I'd **try**! Old habits die hard, you know!"

"It's better than nothing," Tatiana said, shrugging and that was some sort of sign for the others to back off of Leo.

"Well...what I wanted to say is..." She took a deep breath and then continued. "Leo was right. I **do** know the man who tried to kill us in the alley."

Leo opened his mouth immediately to say something, but Tatiana held up a hand. "Please. Let me finish." He nodded and shut his mouth (and didn't failed to notice Raph's hands move away from his sais).

"That man is a part of my life back in Laredo, a life I thought I'd escaped when I moved here after my family's...well..." This was something she hadn't told anyone, not even Jacob. It was one of her most carefully guarded secrets, and she was about to disclose it to four, mutant turtles and a mutant rat.

"Go on, Tati," Don prodded gently.

"We won't judge ya," Raph told her. Then, he shot Leo a dirty look. "Well, **most** of us won't judge ya."

"The man who tried to kill us was sent to kill me."

"WHAT?!" Raph screeched, looking beyond pissed off.

"Why?" Mikey asked. Tatiana took a deep breath before answering.

"Because I survived what he and his people did to my family. I don't know how they found out I was alive or where I moved to, but it doesn't matter. What **does** matter is that they found me, and because of this, all of you are in grave danger."

"What happened Tati?" Don asked.

"Just tell us the truth," Raph added. Tatiana bowed her head and was silent for a moment. Was she really about to tell them the most important secret of her life?

"Please," Leo said. Tatiana's head whipped up and her eyes met with Leo's. He was being civil to her; no sneers, no suspicions, just pure, unadulterated civility. He just wanted to know the truth. _But can he handle the truth?_ Tatiana thought to herself. She sighed and then continued, deciding that if he couldn't, she could always just deck him.

"I moved from Laredo, Texas because my family was murdered by Las Cinco Muertes, the assassination squad of one of the most dangerous drug cartels in North America. And now, they're coming after me to finish the job."

**Dun, dun, dun, DUN! So, Tatiana's family was MURDERED! Why, where and how? What will be the Turtles' reactions? Who is the mystery man who's working in cahoots with the Purple Dragons and Hun? And is this the last of the tension between our favorite, fiery Latina and Leo? (maybe. maybe not.) All the answers will be revealed in the coming chapters of this FanFic! Anyways, questions? Comments? Concerns? If not, reviews please and thank you very much! ****Cheers! :)**

**-Livangel16**


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